Prayer In Schools Case Study

Religion is one of the most controversial issues in society today. The concern of allowing prayer in schools is an on-going debate and has resulted in numerous lawsuits. Religious school clubs, after school activities, curriculums, and moments of silence during school are just a few of the court cases that judges have administered. People in favor of prayer in schools believe that their children can only learn certain values through religious practice. On the other hand, an individual against religious practice in schools views this issue as an infringement on his or her children’s rights as Americans.

The Union Free School District No.9 (also known as the Herricks School District), in New Hyde Park, New York, voted in favor of adopting this prayer into their public schools. Parents of ten pupils attending schools in this school district, sued the school board, saying that the prayer went against their religious views and the First Amendment to the Constitution, specifically the Establishment Clause. The Establishment Clause prohibits the government from making any law, "respecting the establishment of religion." To say that the Regent's prayer is unconstitutional is an oxymoron in itself, for this

The father, a nonbeliever, fought that the words "under God" in the Pledge abused the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment and that the school region's recitation arrangement was

The case of Wallace v. Jaffree calls into question the constitutionality of an Alabama statute that authorized teachers to lead a one-minute period of silence for “meditation or voluntary” prayer in all public schools. Ishmael Jaffree, the parent of three students in the Mobile County Public School system filed a complaint that two of his three children had been “subjected to various acts of religious indoctrination,” as a result of Alabama statute 16-1-20.1 and asked for an injunction prohibiting Mobile County schools from “maintaining or allowing the maintenance of regular religious prayer services.” The purpose of Jaffree’s complaint was to prohibit the devotional services occurring in his children’s school and the consequent mockery of his children that occurred when they refused to recite the prayers to “Almighty God” (Stevens, 40). This type of law in Alabama public schools was not the first of its kind. Prior to statute 6-11-20.1, Alabama passed law 16-1-20 authorizing one minute of silence in public schools for meditation. After the authorization of statute 16-1-20.1 came 16-1-20.2, which allowed teachers to lead “willing students” in a prayer (Stevens, 40).

The Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe stated that student-led/ student-initiated prayer at high school football games violated the establishment clause of the first amendment. The Baptist religion was promoted in the Santa Fe Independent School District in Texas, which is located between Galveston and Houston. A teacher handed out flyers for a “revival meeting” which involved reading the bible and other Catholic things. They offered prayer up to God at graduations, assemblies, and football games. One mormon student and mother filed suit against the school district. Also, one catholic student and mother filed suit against the school district. Their lawsuit involved that the Establishment Clause was violated many times. They did not

They stated that religion unifies many people and puts faith into America. The State believed that the prayer would help bring out the spiritual side of children. The parents argued that the prayer quite simply violated the first amendment, the separation of church and state and requires that the government stay out of the business of prescribing religious activities of any kind. They argued that because not all students shared the same religious beliefs, the public schools should not be a place to preach religion, and believed that religious freedom of the students was being corrupted by providing time during school for prayer. The State rebutted that the prayer was completely optional, therefore was constitutional; if the prayer was against a child’s religion, or if they simply did not want to they did not have to take part in the prayer. A case very similar to this one took place rather recently. An excerpt from the pledge of allegiance states “one nation, under God.” A parent of a child attending pleaded that having said words in the pledge of allegiance is in violation of the Establishment Clause, and took it to the Supreme Court, this is the case of Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow. The Court's decision was that the excerpt did not violate the constitution because it is a symbol of our heritage and it is a

This essay is composed of facts supporting that prayer in Public Schools would be beneficial for the children and the United States of America. Prayer is an address to God or a god in word or thoughts. The Anti- Defamation League states that, “A moment of silence will inevitably be unconstitutional or the purpose and effect of such moments of silence are invariably to advance religion. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down requiring a moment of silence which students could use for silent prayer or meditation because it was enacted for the purpose of advancing religion. The Supreme Court has not determined if a moment of silence can ever be

Facts: The Santa Fe School District were conducting student led prayers at their high school varsity football games. The Plaintiffs (Doe) filed a lawsuit against the Santa Fe Independent School District because of student lead prayers that were being conducted at school events which were said to be a violation of their First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.

Believe that authorizing prayer violates the student's rights according to separation of church and state. They also believe it teaches students that there are invisible, supernatural entities which can be implored and appeased through mumbling prayers or reading from holy books.

The issues of prayer in the school system used to be on the back burner but now it has been moved upstage, front and center. The discussion of a school prayer amendment is not so much about prayer itself but more about what kind of prayer

The American education system is one of the main places of controversy for the Separation of Church and State. Almost every child in the United States attends some type of school, many of them public systems. In such a school setting, these children are often exposed to the beliefs of their teachers and administrators, as well as their own classmates. In Greece, New York, ever since 1999, the town board has begun their monthly gatherings with prayer. Rev. Lou Sirianni begins his gathering by stating: "Be thou present, O God of wisdom, and direct the councils of this honorable assembly," the prayer ended, "All this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son and our Savior" (Wolf 1). Recently in 2007, two residents who regularly attended board meetings, Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens, complained that the prayers were promoting more of a Christian community than any other religion (Masci 3). Although separation of church and state is stated briefly in the First Amendment, these two ladies had the right to go after the town for not allowing a freedom of religion and for most importantly throwing religion into a government owned school function. The case was brought to the Supreme Court in 2007 and is still under debate, with a result hopefully by the end of June 2014. The question is whether or not this prayer is allowed at a school function. Not everyone is willing to put

The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States guarantees its citizens freedom of religion, free speech, a free press, the right to peacefully assemble and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances. A public high principal holds a position of oversight of a government run facility. A public school principal has a duty to uphold the Constitution. A high school principal may allow students to continue a tradition of beginning graduation ceremonies with prayer, as long as certain conditions are met. The students (not the school or any of its employees) must initiate the prayer. A student (not a teacher or school employee) must be the one to recite the prayer. Students must be allowed to participant voluntarily when praying. Any student who elects to remain silent or asks to be excused during the prayer must not be sanctioned or punished for their non-participation. Essex (2012) states, “If student prayer is initiated solely by students with no coercion or involvement by school personnel, it is permissible and does not violation the separation of church-state in the First Amendment” (p. 176).

In the mid 90’s, at Santa Fe High School in Texas, a student had been elected to deliver a prayer over the loud speakers before every home varsity football game. In 1995 two sets of families took exception to this, and filed suits challenging the schools practices, one Mormon and the other Catholic. These families believed that it went against the Establishment Clause of the

America 's structure is established upon the concept that religion should be a freedom of choice of an individual without the concern of the government, yet religion was the least flaws the nation was founded on. During the development over hundred of years, America 's opinion was occupied on one 's religious belief. This controversy enhanced in public schools across the country. The court case that brought about this action was Engel v. Vitale. This court case dealt with school prayers. Supreme Court ruled Engel v, Vitale on Juner 1962 that prayer in public schools violated the U.S Constitution 's first amendment prohibition of a state establishment of religion. N.Y State 's Board of Regents documented a daily prayer that was recited by students at the beginning of class. A group of parents disapproved of this and sued the school board of president. Justice Hugo Black argument by explaining how the recitation of the Regent 's Prayer were an unconstitutional violation of the Establishment Clause. The Court rejected the defendant 's argument that prayer is free and promotes religious unity. Although many people were angry about the verdict, this case impacted public schools by prohibiting schools from writing or choosing a specific prayer requiring students to practice it.

The Supreme Court has just received Santa Fe v the people, in this case the students was banned from saying a prayer at a foot ball game . The constitution protects the right to free speech. Therefore, there is no reason for this case to have come up in the first place. If someone does not want to hear a prayer, they do not have to listen to it. If I were the judge I would rule that banning prayer at school events is unconstitutional.