Kiryas Joel V. Grummet Case Summary

The Court case Engel v. Vitale originated in a New York school where students and their parents felt their rights were being violated when the school implemented a mandatory prayer. Five decades later, Engel continues to be reviled by a good number of televangelists and politicians who take every opportunity to rail against the “godless public schools.” Eliminating school-sponsored prayer, they argue, set America on the road to moral and spiritual

One of the many landmark cases heard by the United States Supreme Court in American

The Lemon V. Kurtzman case took place between Alton Lemon who filed a case against David Kurtzman who was the superintendent of the department of public instruction in Pennsylvania. The court case took place in Pennsylvania before moving to the Supreme Court but also had a couple meetings in Rhode Island that is not far from Pennsylvania. Court cases related

In 1962, the Supreme Court case “Engle v. Vitale” ruled that school prayer could no longer be performed in public classrooms because it was offensive to some families’ religious beliefs. The arguments revolved around the different interpretations and understandings of the 1st Amendment that stated, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”

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.” These critics blame the absence of prayer in schools for tragedies such as school shootings and drug

In 1945, the High Court of Australia heard the case of Gratwick v Johnson and ultimately decided to dismiss the appeal in a unanimous decision by the Judges. While different reasoning was employed, all five judges drew the conclusion that the appeal should be dismissed as the statute the defendant was charged under was inconsistent with s.92 of the Australian Constitution.

Traditionally, morality and values in schools have been taught using Christian guidelines, such as the King James Bible for Horace Mann’s common school and the early colonial schools who relied heavily on religious doctrine in their teaching. In 1962, the supreme court cases Engel v. Vitale and Abington School District v. Schempp banned school sponsored prayers and Bible reading. These rulings affirm Jefferson’s philosophy of separation of church and state and a secular public school system, they also challenge traditional aspects of American education. The debate surrounding values education warrants an acknowledgement of religion’s role in public

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

To establish which amendment in the Bill of Rights is the most influential to the preservation of liberty, one must first determine the true meaning of the word liberty. The Oxford dictionary defines liberty as “The state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behaviour, or political views.” Not only is this one of the core values ingrained into the base of our American culture, but it is also one of the main characteristics of a successful community (“First Amendment.”) Many societies argue that citizens do not have basic rights, the first amendment does the best job at protecting the nation's rights from the government by giving individuals freedom of speech, religion, and freedom of petition. The First Amendment has five freedoms guaranteed for the American people’s such as the right to religion, speech, and petition. 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

In James Madison’s address to the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, “Memorial and Remonstrance”, he speaks about his opposition to a Bill which would provide provisions for teachers of Christian faith. He argues that such a Bill is an abuse of legislative powers, and he is bound by duty to prove why.

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. As religion plays a big part of a politics, not just in the United States, but also in other countries. A chosen religion can severely impact citizens in negative ways. For that, some countries grow and some countries can go into destruction. Having this in mind religious freedom is one of the main reasons people come to America. People move here to be free from the strict domain rule of government and to be able to have the ability to practice any religion they desire and to voice their opinions without persecution. I have

stayed in effect for over sixty years until it was overturned in 1954 by the Supreme

Background Information: Engel was the parent of a student who was under the school in New York State who was in desire of a nondenominational prayer. The law states that you may take absence from it if it was objectionable. As a parent, he sued of his child. It was not fair for him to take absence just because of religion and he had fought using the first amendment as well as the fourteenth.

The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution are collectively known as the Bill of Rights. Largely the product of James Madison, the 10 amendments officially became part of the Constitution in 1791, after being approved by Congress in its initial session in 1789. Initially, 12 amendments were adopted by Congress and sent to the states for ratification or rejection; the first two amendments were not approved, thus leaving the 10 amendments as we know them today. Madison 's speech in the U.S. House of Representatives on June 8, 1789, in which he argued persuasively for the insertion of a document to the Constitution that would protect "the great rights of mankind," still stands today as one of the most consequential speeches in the annals

Many occasions in the United States history have shown that religion has caused many controversial questions. These questions have brought the American Justice System to a running halt, leading society to begin to ponder about the importance of freedom of religion, true meanings of the free exercise and establishment clause, and if there should be limitations imposed on the free exercise of one’s religious beliefs.