Legal Question in Education Law in Massachusetts

Re: religious freedom

Interesting question! I would need more information before I could really (attempted to)answer this, but here are some thoughts... I'm guessing that the supervisor may be relying on what some courts have said, which is that public schools have a compelling interest in maintaining the appearance of religious neutrality in their classrooms. This is based on the concept of the Establishment Clause. However, this may be inconsistent with the principle that an interest in more separation between church and state than the Establishment Clause requires cannot justify restricting rights shielded by the Free Exercise Clause. In other words, your right to Free Exercise of your religion and the right of free speech which would allow you to call yourself reverend may trump the Establishment Clause (this would, be very fact specific).

As for the prohibition on the use of an academic title -- that I would need more information on; while it is true that many people who earn a D.D. are Religious, plenty of lay persons earn them too.

Again, very interesting question.