School Prayer (School Law Cases and Concepts, p ) Michelle Duke MED 6490 January 26, 2010

In an effort to ensure separation of church and state…. The U.S. Supreme Court and lower federal court decisions have been consistent in declaring Bible reading for sectarian purposes and school-sponsored prayer during normal school hours to be unconstitutional. This includes prayer at:  graduation exercises  football games  baccalaureate services  religious holidays  religious clubs or Bible study groups  handing out Bibles or religious literature

Separation of church and state No discrimination against allowable religious expression

 Daily recitation of a school prayer composed by the New York State Board of Regents was unconstitutional and in violation of the Establishment Clause. Engel v. Vitale Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. 421

Facts  The case was brought by the families of public school students in New Hyde Park, New York who complained the prayer to "Almighty God" contradicted their religious beliefs.  They were supported by groups opposed to the school prayer including rabbinical organizations, Ethical Culture, and Judaic organizations.  The prayer in question was: Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country. Amen.

Facts The New York Court of Appeals sustained an order of the lower state courts which upheld the power of New York to use the Regent’s prayer, so long as the schools did not compel the student to join in the prayer over his objection or that of his parents. The American Ethical Union, the American Jewish Committee, and the Synagogue Council of America each submitted briefs urging the Court to instead reverse and rule that the prayer was unconstitutional.

Issue The state’s use of the Regents prayer breached the constitutional wall of separation between Church and State.  “It is a matter of history that this very practice of establishing government composed prayers fro religious services was one of the reasons which caused many of our early colonists to leave England and seek religious freedom in America.”  (School Law Cases and Concepts, LaMorte, p. 33)

Holding The judgment of the Court of Appeals of New York is reversed. Government-directed prayer in public schools, even if it is denominationally neutral and non-mandatory, violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Reading the Bible for sectarian purposes and reciting the Lord’s Prayer in public schools during normal hours were unconstitutional. HOWEVER, the Court asserted that the Bible could be read as literature in appropriate classes and that it was permissible to teach the history of religion or comparative religion courses. School District of Abington Township v. Schempp 374 U.S. 203 (1963)

Significance Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that determined that it is unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and require its recitation in public schools.

Engel became the basis for several subsequent decisions limiting government-directed prayer in school. In Wallace v. Jaffree (1985), the Supreme Court ruled Alabama's law permitting one minute for prayer or meditation was unconstitutional. In Lee v. Weisman (1992), the court prohibited clergy-led prayer at high school graduation ceremonies. Lee v. Weisman, in turn, was a basis for Santa Fe ISD v. Doe (2000), in which the Court extended the ban to school sanctioning of student-led prayer at high school football games.