Establishment Clause Test Case Study

The issue in this case was whether school-sponsored nondenominational prayer in public schools violates the Establishment clause of the first amendment (Facts and Case Summary - Engel v. Vitale, n.d.). This case dealt with a New York state law that had required public schools to open each day with the Pledge of Allegiance and a nondenominational prayer in which the students recognized their dependence upon God (Facts and Case Summary - Engel v. Vitale, n.d.). This law had also allowed students to absent themselves from this activity if they found that it was objectionable. There was a parent that sued the school on behalf of their child. Their argument was that the law violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, as made applicable

While religion is in no way defined in these two clauses, the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause, we do know that laws respecting religion 's establishment are prohibited, as are laws precluding its free exercise. The interpretation and application of the First Amendment 's religion clauses has been the peculiar province of the judiciary, especially the U.S. Supreme Court, and particularly since roughly the midpoint of the 20th century. Although several cases concerning these clauses transpired in the 19th century, the effective "making sense" of the two clauses began in the 1940s, beginning with the case of Cantwell v. Connecticut in 1940. In Cantwell, the Supreme Court ruled for the first time that the Free Exercise Clause applied to the states as well as to the national government. However, for most of the rest of the 20th century, the primary work of the Court with the religion clauses centered on the Establishment Clause, beginning with the case of Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing Township, New

A student, Brandon, was denied admission into a radiation therapy program because when asked about what the most important thing in his life was, he stated, “My God.” According to the article, the program director, Dr. Dougherty, told Brandon, “I understand that religion is a major part of your life…however, this field is not the place for religion…” A similar thing happened to another student, Dustin, who replied to a question asked by Dr. Dougherty about the guiding principle in his life with, “My Faith” (Clark). The university backed the professor and stated, students would be better off to “have a concrete reason for wanting to do undertake training at hand than to say only that God directed one to do it” (Clark). Both of these cases are in federal court with the American Center for Law and Justice stating, “This college’s anti-Christian discrimination in not only unconscionable, it’s unconstitutional.”

McCreary v. ACLU of Kentucky (2005) was a case that was presented to the supreme court. The issue at hand was that two Kentucky county courthouses displayed the 10 commandments publicly. As a result, the American Civil Liberties Union argued that this religious display violated the first 10 amendments of the Establishment Clause and sued the counties. After that, the courthouse continued to post not one but two displays alongside with the 10 commandments relating to their reasoning assuring the citizens to be on the same page with them. Which according to law, the government must not in any way favor one religion over another, moreover in this case the displays clearly violated the Establishment Clause because they were presented with texts-scriptures from the Bible involving in a particular promotion of Christian religion.

One of the many landmark cases heard by the United States Supreme Court in American history was Lemon vs Kurtzman. In 1971 the Supreme Court had to decide if states could give money to certain religious based schools to hire staff even if the teachers couldn’t teach religious classes. The first amendment to the Constitution established the law of separation of church and state. What is the established boundary between church and state? This case would be the defining point in that fight between the involvement of a state and the churches.

" Some legislative actions associated to religion has been acknowledged legitimate by the Supreme Court. For example, implementing

Vitale was greeted with conflicting emotions. While some saw it as a victory for religious freedom, some Christians were outraged that the government shunned God by banning school wide prayer. Political and religious leaders have claimed that the case has promoted atheism and that moral values have been undermined by removing religion from public education. These people wrongly believe that the ruling outlawed all prayer in public schools when it prohibits schools from writing or choosing a specific prayer and encouraging all students to partake in reciting it. Even today, over fifty years since the case, the opposition of the ruling continues to rail against the “godless public schools” and complain about how the Supreme Court “kicked God out of the schools.”

(US History, Independence Hall Association) In 1986, a Jewish girl sued her school district because there was a christian prayer at her graduation. This was considered an “establishment of religion” and she successfully sued the district because she cited the First

Therefore, the holding for this case by Justice Souter signifies that Chapter 748 violated the Establishment Clause. Souter held that the state law departed from the constitutional mandate of neutrality toward religion by delegating the state’s discretionary authority over public schools and that a state may not delegate its civic authority to a group chosen according to religious criteria (Osborne, n.d). The statute was also seen as impermissible as an advancement of religious

The case was first heard in Pennsylvania but once that court ruled the law did not violate the first amendment he appealed and took it to the Supreme Court. In this hearing his main argument was that the law was in direct violation with the constitution which did not tolerate religions benefiting from state laws. The court went over the “three main evils” in order to prevent sponsorship, financial support, and involvement of the sovereign in religious activity. The first of those three tests is that the statute has to have a legislative purpose. Second, the principle must not advance or inhibit religion.

The majority stated that the provision allowing students to absent themselves from this activity did not make the law constitutional because the purpose of the First Amendment was to prevent government interference with religion. The majority noted that religion is very important to a vast majority of the American people. Since Americans adhere to a wide variety of beliefs, it is not appropriate for the government to endorse any particular belief system. The majority noted that wars, persecutions, and other destructive measures often arose in the past when the government involved itself in religious affairs.

“Liberty which is essential to its existence, the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.” One of the many issues is the ability that religion

This is arguably the most important amendment to liberty, and a person’s right to free will. The first amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or

The supreme court case of Trinity Lutheran Church vs. Comer, is a case in which the supreme court of the United States of America held a Missouri Program that denied funding to religious groups that would be used for profane purposes, that is provided to non-religious groups violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of religion. “The Trinity Lutheran Church Child Learning Center is a Missouri preschool and daycare center. Originally established as a nonprofit organization, the Center later merged with Trinity Lutheran Church and now operates under its auspices on church property.” The Trinity Lutheran v. Comer case finds that governments can not discriminate against churches that would otherwise qualify for funding just because

The establishment clause is when Congress shall make no law “respecting the establishment of religion. There shall be no legal ruling that regard religion nor shall it be interpreted in various ways. Thus, separating church and state in the United States. Although there is a separation, the people can only be left to wander on how high and wide that wall is. It can be tall and thin, but short and definitely set in