"Religious sect" defined.

- See Bennett v. City of LaGrange, 153 Ga. 428, 112 S.E. 482, 22 A.L.R. 1312 (1922).

Religious grave markers may be erected in public graveyard.

- Erection and maintenance of religiously symbolic grave markers in a public graveyard in compliance with the religious sentiments of known descendants does not conflict with this provision or the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Birdine v. Moreland, 579 F. Supp. 412 (N.D. Ga. 1983).

County invocational practice.

- County commission's sectarian invocation practice did not offend the Separation Clause of the Georgia Constitution, Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. II, Para. VII, because the complaining county residents and taxpayers did not describe how the cost of time spent arranging for a speaker and the cost of stamps were taken in aid of any sect or sectarian institution and did not show any pecuniary benefit, either direct or indirect, conferred by the county upon such groups or that any religious organization received financial assistance from the county for promotion and advancement of its theological views. Bats v. Cobb County, 410 F. Supp. 2d 1324 (N.D. Ga. 2006), aff'd, 547 F.3d 1263 (11th Cir. 2008).

Arms-length agreement between public school and church.

- Arms-length agreement by public school system with a church to lease space from the church to alleviate an overcrowding problem at one of its elementary schools did not violate the Establishment Clause of the Georgia Constitution because the payments made under the lease did not constitute giving monetary aid to the church. Taetle v. Atlanta Indep. Sch. Sys., 280 Ga. 137, 625 S.E.2d 770 (2006).

Cited in Trustees of First Methodist Episcopal Church v. City of Atlanta, 76 Ga. 181 (1886); City of Atlanta v. First Presbyterian Church, 86 Ga. 730, 13 S.E. 252, 12 L.R.A. 852 (1891); Reid v. State, 116 Ga. App. 640, 158 S.E.2d 461 (1967); Bradfield v. Hospital Auth., 226 Ga. 575, 176 S.E.2d 92 (1970); Franklin County v. Fieldale Farms Corp., 270 Ga. 272, 507 S.E.2d 460 (1998).

Statutory provisions deemed constitutional.

- The "respect for the creator" portion of the character education program authorized by O.C.G.A. § 20-2-145 and the provision of O.C.G.A. § 50-3-4.1 allowing display of the motto "In God We Trust" in public do not violate the separation of church and state provisions of either the state or federal Constitution. 2000 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 00-9.

Contract for goods or services between public and sectarian schools unconstitutional.

- Supreme Court of this state would consider unconstitutional a contract for goods or services between a public elementary or secondary school and a nonpublic sectarian school. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-125.

Expenditure of funds for prison chapels.

- State Board of Corrections (now Board of Offender Rehabilitation) can expend state funds for the employment of chaplains and the construction and maintenance of chapels in the various prison branches and can legally permit religious organizations to conduct services in such chapels. 1960-61 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 361.

Use of prison labor to gratuitously clear and maintain church grounds and cemeteries violates constitutional limitations on separation of church and state. 1960-61 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 349.

Contract between a county and the Y.M.C.A. to furnish recreational facilities would violate this paragraph. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-136.

Funds for transporting children to schools.

- County board of education may not expend public school funds to transport children to schools other than those operated by the public school system. 1945-47 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 222.

Entirely federally funded plan to provide resources to private schools.

- So long as Title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 is wholly financed by the federal government and no state matching funds are involved, the State Board of Education may lawfully administer a state plan even though it contemplates the providing of school library resources, textbooks, and other printed instructional materials for the use of students and teachers in private as well as public schools. 1965-66 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 65-4.

Applicability to State authority.

- Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. II, Para. VII applies to the Georgia Residential Finance Authority in the distribution of any funds received from the settlement of litigation, its status as a state authority notwithstanding. 1988 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 88-2.

Funds from settlement of litigation.

- Funds received by the State of Georgia pursuant to the settlement of litigation are public funds and subject to Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. II, Para. VII. 1988 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 88-2.

Teaching about Bible in public schools.

- Use of public funds to teach Bible courses may be held to constitute "aid" to a particular religion, i.e., Christianity, if appropriate instruction regarding other religions is not included or if the instruction is not offered in a neutral and objective manner. 1999 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 99-16.

Allowing sectarian organization to generate income through use of school property under a lease arrangement at less than the fair market rental rate would violate the "indirect aid" language of Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. II, Para. VII. 1988 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U88-20.

Sectarian organization providing after-school program.

- County school system can contract with a sectarian organization to provide after-school programs for its students if the arrangement does not involve a flow of public or school funds from the school system to the sectarian organization. 1988 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U88-6.

Reading Challenge Program grants.

- Grants to sectarian schools from the Department of Education for purposes of the Reading Challenge Program are prohibited by Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. II, Para. VII. 2000 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 2000-5.

Georgia Residential Finance Authority may lend general reserve funds to religiously-motivated housing sponsor which charges in-kind interest, provided the funds are not encumbered or derived from the public treasury, the authority's own purpose is secular and nondiscriminatory, the program in fact is financially sound and secular, and it can be monitored without entanglement. 1988 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 88-15.

When Christmas display in capitol unconstitutional.

- Presenting a nativity scene as a part of a planned Christmas program in the capitol rotunda, or leaving an unattended display of a Menorah in front of the capitol would be in violation of the Georgia Constitution and the establishment clause of the United States Constitution. However, a Menorah candlelighting ceremony conducted by private citizens in front of the capitol would not violate the Constitution of the United States or the Georgia Constitution. 1990 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 90-38.

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 16A Am. Jur. 2d, Constitutional Law, § 432 et seq.

C.J.S.

- 16A C.J.S., Constitutional Law, § 857.

ALR.

- Contract to pay for services or reimburse expenditures as within constitutional inhibition of aid to sectarian institutions, 22 A.L.R. 1319; 55 A.L.R. 320.

Constitutionality of statute providing school bus service for pupils of parochial or private schools, 168 A.L.R. 1434.

Public payment of tuition, scholarship, or the like, as respects sectarian school, 81 A.L.R.2d 1309.

Validity, under state constitution and laws, of issuance by state or state agency of revenue bonds to finance or refinance construction projects at private religious-affiliated colleges or universities, 95 A.L.R.3d 1000.