Case Study: Engel V. Vitale

The last argument that made me not want to vote to convict John Scopes is the argument he made that religion has caused people to have different opinions. But some things should be between an individual , his maker or his God. Darrow says that the constitutional convention should leave the questions of religion between man and what he worships. Questions of religion shouldn’t be brought into the classrooms of

Judge Jones was a judge of facts; he was Christian and Republican, but it did not affect

The Establishment Clause Thomas Jefferson stated that by passing the First Amendment, Americans had “declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Religion in Public Life Government officials take their oaths of office in the name of God, nation’s coins have carried the motto “In God We Trust”, Pledge of Allegiance includes the phrase “one nation under God”, and public meeting open with prayers. Everson v. Board of Education 1947 case involved a challenge to a New Jersey law allowing the state to pay for busing student to parochial school. County determined that the law benefited students rather than aiding a religion directly. State Aid to Parochial School In Board of Education v. Allen the court upheld state programs that provide secular, or nonreligious textbooks to parochial schools.

Though prayer can seem innocent enough, Smiths’ action of praying while performing the duty of a judge violates the establishment clause; seeing how Roger Robber is being subjected to Smiths’ beliefs. As made evident in the 1992 decision in the case of Lee v. Weisman, public schools, which function under the supervision of the government, cannot perform religious invocations and benedictions during a graduation, as doing so violates the establishment clause. A public school sponsoring a prayer at a graduation is considered “excessive government entanglement” when the objective is to create a prayer that is to be used in a formal religious exercise, which students, for all practical purposes are obliged to attend, resulting in a violation of the establishment clause. Going back to Smith, his inclusion of prayers while serving the government shows that there is no separation between church and state. This is a clear violation, seeing how Robber is placed in a highly religious environment, meaning that religious beliefs are likely to take the place of the law and completely disregarding the

“For me to violate that would be for me to rebel against God, to take what he 's designed and say it doesn 't matter. " I agree with Jack as a Christian the bible doesn’t tell us to

The defense employed the common argument that the children were given a choice on whether they wished to partake in the prayer, therefore it cannot be proclaimed unconstitutional. In an 8-1, however, the Supreme Court determined that the school prayer was in direct contradiction with the Establishment Clause which was put in place to prevent government interference with religion. The reasoning behind the court’s decision was that education is mandatory in the United States for all children, and public schools must maintain a separation from any religion. This separation from religion does not include individuals praying on their own time in a public-school environment, and religion can be an academic subject if all religions are addressed without

Most recently, this has come into light in Kentucky where a county clerk, Kim Davis, refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, even though it is the law of the land as determined by the supreme court. However, actions such as these are considered unconstitutional and irrational because they violate the separation of church and state, are a misconception

He begins the article with a history lesson over the phrase. The “separation of church and state” was coined by President Thomas Jefferson in 1802 in a letter he wrote to a religious group. This letter was sent to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut trying to assure them that the government would not interfere with the church, but Ham believes that secularists and Americans have taken the phrase out of context to protect the government from the influence of the Christian Church. The main point in Ham’s article, however, is that there can be no “neutral situation[s]” in any circumstance. He believes the “religion” of naturalism is being imposed on the children of the public education system and thinks that the phrase has become “separation of Christianity and state.”

Constitution: Preamble and Bill of Rights” the author is trying to secure the unalienable rights of the people. In the first Amendment of the U.S. Constitution it states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” This Amendment gives power to the individual by prohibiting Congress from making new laws that will interfere with the freedom of speech of the people. The Preamble Constitution also reduces the power of the Federal Government by stating,” Secure the Blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” By saying this, the Constitution weakens the Federal Government by barring the government from making laws against these rights in not just the present but the future as well.

In his article, James Robbins talks about how Obama’s opinion which is America should not have religion test to allow refugee to enter in United States. Obama said that American shouldn’t push back Muslim refugee and accept Christian’s refugee, he thinks that’s shameful. I totally agree with what Obama said, America don’t compare religion. I thought the United States of America had a first amendment which is freedom of religion. The government should never trump one religion over another.

This feeds into the first question regarding artificial and natural coercion. Justice Kennedy wrote: “government may not coerce anyone to support or participate in any religion or its exercise.” County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union, Greater Pittsburgh Chapter, [492 U.S. 573, (1998)]. Governmental coercion would constitute a source of artificial coercion whereby the government directly intervenes; however, there exists a natural coercive force simply through the presence of an authority figure – the classroom teacher in the case at hand. Despite the recitation of the Pledge being voluntary, can it truly be considered voluntary when Milgram’s experiment is

If the Constitution has to be modified in order to make everyone happy then that’s not living. We are supposed to go by the principles in the

Justice Tom C. Clark, who wrote the court ruling, wrote that religious freedom is embedded in our public and private life, and while freedom of worship is indispensable in America, the government must be neutral

But at the sometime there are still American who are against interracial relationship and try to use religion to stop it such as the Bible verses “come out from them and be separate and touch no unclean thing. (2 Corinthians 6:17) which is not talking about race but about God grace, it’s telling Christian to not marry a non- Christian. Which I also agree because it can lead people to worshipper false pagan god and not Jesus. So in my opinion it’s ok to date or marriage someone who skin color or ethnicity different but you have to have the same religion.

The united states is off and on on how they use or “believe” in religion. It is stated that you have the freedom to religion and whatever religion you would want, but that religion isn 't incorporated into the government and law ‘officially’ but there are so many ways that they do incorporate religion. It was mentioned earlier in the essay that they use religion for prison and taxes and etc. However to use religion for something like that you must use a specific religion which I believe most Americans are catholic and so most catholic morals are used in our laws and taxes. The inconsistency is annoying and not professional for what they aim for.