1. Presentation for POL 101 Dr. Kevin Lasher

2. Establishment Clause: Prayer in Public Schools

3. Engle v. Vitale (1962)
Prayer composed by NY State Board of regents and recommended to school districts (new policy)
New Hyde Park school district required prayer in 1958 (10% of NY districts did)
Non-denominational and non-coercive (students could opt out)
Group of parents claim prayer violated establishment clause
Prayer upheld by lower courts

4. Engle v. Vitale (1962)
“Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon thee, and we beg thy blessings upon us , our parents, our teachers and our country.” “To whom it may concern” prayer

5. Engle v. Vitale (1962)
“There can, of course, be no doubt that New York's program of daily classroom invocation of God's blessings as prescribed in the Regents' prayer is a religious activity. It is a solemn avowal of divine faith and supplication for the blessings of the Almighty.”
“It is neither sacrilegious nor anti-religious to say that each separate government in this country should stay out of the business of writing or sanctioning official prayers and leave that purely religious function to the people themselves and to those the people choose to look to for religious guidance.”

6. Engle v. Vitale (1962)
“We think that the constitutional prohibition against laws respecting an establishment of religion must at least mean that, in this country, it is no part of the business of government to compose official prayers for any group of the American people to recite as a part of a religious program carried on by government.”

7. Engle v. Vitale (1962) 6-1 majority (surprisingly short decision)
Extremely unpopular decision
“Court Outlaws God,” “Public School Prayer Outlawed”
Rep. Frank Becker (NY): “It is the most tragic decision in the history of the United States and June 25, 1962 will go down as a black day in our history.”

8. Engle v. Vitale (1962)
“Another step toward the secularization of the United States”
“ The framers of our Constitution meant that we were to have freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.”
“God pity our country when we can no longer appeal to God for help.”
Rev. Billy Graham

10. Engle v. Vitale (1962)
More negative mail (5000 letters) than any other decision
Polls suggested that 70-80% of Americans disagreed with the decision
Hundreds of attempts at constitutional amendment to allow prayer; all have failed
HOWEVER -- a number of religious organizations SUPPORTED the decision
Decision is still extremely controversial today

11. Engle v. Vitale (1962)
Gallup Poll

12. Abington v. Schempp (1963)
Combined cases from Pennsylvania (daily Bible reading and recitation of Lord’s Prayer) and Maryland (daily Bible reading)
8-1 decision strikes down both policies as a violation of the establishment clause
Reaffirms logic of Engle v. Vitale
Both policies represented no secular purpose and served the purpose of advancing religion

13. Abington v. Schempp (1963)
“We find that the States are requiring the selection and reading at the opening of the school day of verses from the Holy Bible and the recitation of the Lord's Prayer by the students in unison. These exercises are prescribed as part of the curricular activities of students who are required by law to attend school. They are held in the school buildings under the supervision and with the participation of teachers employed in those schools.” “The conclusion follows that, in both cases, the laws require religious exercises, and such exercises are being conducted in direct violation of the rights of the appellees and petitioners. Nor are these required exercises mitigated by the fact that individual students may absent themselves upon parental request, for that fact furnishes no defense to a claim of unconstitutionality under the Establishment Clause.”

14. Bruce Dierenfield, The Battle over School Prayer, p. 183.

15. Wallace v. Jaffree (1985)
1981 Alabama law called for moment of silence “for meditation or voluntary prayer” (replaced a 1978 law which said “for meditation”)
State Senator Donald Holmes said the purpose of the 1981 law was “an effort to return voluntary prayer to our public schools” and that it was “a beginning and a step in the right direction.”
Court (6-3) said that the Alabama law served no secular purpose under the Lemon test

16. Wallace v. Jaffree (1985)
“The legislature enacted the law for the sole purpose of expressing the State’s endorsement of prayer activities for one minute at the beginning of each school day. The addition of ‘or voluntary prayer’ indicates that the State intended to characterize prayer as a favored practice.”
John Paul Stevens

17. Wallace v. Jaffree (1985)
The majority “implied” (but did not directly rule) that “pure” MOS laws would be constitutional 32 states (including SC) require or permit a general MOS in public schools Supreme Court has never ruled on these new MOS laws, but has let lower court decisions stand in a few cases

18. Moments of Silence
Generally “pure” moment of silence laws (or something close to them) are constitutional and permissible HOWEVER, the Supreme Court has never directly ruled on such a law

19. Prayer in Public Schools
Lee v. Weisman (1992) 5:4
Prayers at public school graduation ceremonies are unconstitutional; Court held that the inclusion of prayers at a public school graduation ceremony effectively coerced students to participate in religious exercise and resulted in governmental endorsement of religion.
Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000) 6:3
Prayers at public school football games are unconstitutional; school district policy of having students vote on whether or not to have prayer and then having a student deliver the prayer still represents an establishment of religion.

20. “High Wall”

21. Establishment Clause Cases
Wall of separation Middle Ground Accomodationist
Aid to religious schools Middle Ground to accomodationist Prayer in public schools separationist Religion in public schools Middle Ground

22. Establishment Clause Cases
Wall of separation Middle Ground Accomodationist
Aid to religious schools Middle Ground to accomodationist
Prayer in public schools separationist
Religion in public schools Middle Ground
Religion in public schools

23. Equal Access Act of 1984
Student religious groups at public secondary schools have the same right of access to school facilities as is enjoyed by other comparable student groups. Under this law, a school receiving Federal funds that allows one or more student noncurriculum-related clubs to meet on its premises during noninstructional time may not refuse access to student religious groups.

24. Clinton Guidelines

25. Conclusion
Supreme Court has been quite strict in prohibiting formal prayer in public schools, even as the court has moved in a more conservative direction on other aspects of establishment clause
Supreme Court and government have created a situation in which certain kinds of religious activity ARE permitted in public schools
The key seems to be whether school authorities are or are not in charge of the religious activities

26. The End