How much religion is too much?

Be accountable. Be dependable. Be responsible.

Ron Brown, assistant Husker football coach, delivered that message to a school assembly at Pierce Junior/Senior High School last spring, recalled Principal Mark Brahmer.

Brown's talk was well-received by most of the 350 students who attended, Brahmer said Thursday. But the presentation also prompted a complaint to the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska.

That complaint and at least 13 others filed last year spurred an ACLU warning to school districts this week: Invite Brown or Keith Becker, another Nebraska-based speaker who references Scripture, and you may be inviting a lawsuit.

The ACLU's letter sparked renewed public debate over religion and how it should be handled in public schools.

Public school administrators in Nebraska and western Iowa are the main gatekeepers of who gets invited to speak and what message they can deliver to students.

District officials interviewed Thursday said they avoid speakers with overtly religious messages, make assemblies optional and, if any subject matter is questionable, they talk with the speaker beforehand.

Pierce's principal decided that Brown's message was appropriate for his students.

“It was a really positive message for our kids,” said Brahmer, who also is the school's football coach. “Obviously, he's a guy who's gonna witness in front of anyone he sees. In no way was his speech ‘If you don't believe this, you're damned to hell.' ”

Brown said this week that he has given the same talk to students for 20 years and isn't going to change because of the ACLU.

He said he asks schools to make attendance optional when he speaks.

“I'm going to talk about Jesus Christ whenever I'm talking about drugs or alcohol or character,” he said.

The other speaker in the ACLU warning, Keith Becker, is the founder of the Todd Becker Foundation. It's named for Keith's younger brother, who was a senior at Kearney High School when he was killed in an alcohol-related car accident in 2005.

According to the foundation's website, Keith Becker tells of the choices that ultimately led to his brother's death.

The foundation did not return a phone message, but the issue of religion in public schools is addressed on the foundation's website.

“We fully understand that we are in a public school setting and are very mindful of the boundaries that must be kept,” the website says.

Brahmer and several other school officials who have invited either Brown or Becker to speak said the assemblies were not mandatory.

In Pierce, in northeast Nebraska, one student chose not to attend Brown's talk.

ACLU Nebraska's legal director Amy Miller said that doesn't matter. Even if students are given an opt-out, an assembly during school hours that organizers “know to be religious” could violate the Constitution.

Josephine Potuto, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Nebraska College of Law, said there are “a lot of gradients” between what is and is not acceptable in a public school under the First Amendment.

She explained it this way: Because a World Religions class is taught as a subject, not as doctrine, that's clearly acceptable. On the other side, she said, school-organized prayer is not permissible because “that forces children to profess to a certain belief they may not believe.”

The presentations by the two speakers, the law professor said, fall somewhere in the middle.

A judge, she said, would have to consider the facts involved if a lawsuit was brought. Among them: the age of students involved and the actual words used.

Kevin Riley, superintendent of the Gretna Public Schools, said the ACLU's letter won't cause him to change how he chooses assembly speakers.

Officials in several districts, including Bellevue, Omaha, Millard, Elkhorn and South Sarpy, agreed.

“The Supreme Court has been clear,” Riley said. “What we can't do is try to indoctrinate any child, who is required by law to be at school, into any type of religion.”

South Sarpy Superintendent Chuck Chevalier recalled a time, as a high school principal, that he intervened to make sure a speaker didn't stray from permissible material. He said he took two steps toward the podium, and the speaker gave a nod of understanding.

“It's difficult to control the speaker once they get up there,” he said.

Michael Amstein, superintendent of the Atlantic (Iowa) Community Schools, said districts should be vigilant about keeping church and state separate. For example, school districts have gone from Christmas programs to holiday programs and have taught staff to be aware of such issues.

Officials in the Johnson-Brock Public Schools in southeast Nebraska, where Becker is scheduled to speak in January, are re-examining the booking.

“We're consulting with our school attorneys whether we will allow this to happen in our building,” said Superintendent Arlan Andreesen.

Andreesen said an organization of youths against drugs and alcohol that includes Johnson-Brock students, not the district itself, is sponsoring the event.

The district wants to avoid a lawsuit. “Things are tight enough the way it is,” he said.

Andreesen said he hasn't heard complaints from parents about Becker's scheduled visit. On the contrary, he has heard from some who are upset about the ACLU's letter and who want Becker to come.

Hyannis High School Principal Howard Gaffney received the ACLU's letter Wednesday, 20 minutes before Becker's group was to put on an assembly.

The two men talked. The principal showed Becker the letter and reminded him not to cross the line. Becker offered assurances that he knew the requirements of being in a public school.

“He did mention that faith,” Gaffney said. “He didn't preach to it.”

Becker mainly talked about the narrow road of life, Gaffney said.

The message to students, the principal said: “If one gets wrapped up in pornography, drinking, drugs, sex, you can get going down that wrong road.”

World-Herald staff writer Julie Anderson contributed to this report.

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