SUMMARY
Engle v. Vitale was the first case brought to the Supreme Court that used the establishment clause to remove religious activities that until this point had been used as a part of public observances. The First Amendment bars any enforcement of any law “respecting an establishment of religion” and the Fourteenth Amendment makes this applicable to the States. For that reason, state officials can not write an official state prayer and require that it be recited in the public schools, even if the prayer is nondenominational and students who wish to remain silent or be excused are allowed to do so during the recitation of the prayer.
The parents of ten students brought this issue to the New York State Court maintaining that the use of the official prayer in the public schools was “contrary to the beliefs, religions, or religious practices of both themselves and their children.” The question that was reviewed by the Supreme Court of The United States was whether New York overstepped the boundaries when they financed a religious exercise. The New York Court said that “the prayer given does not conform to all of the tenets of the Jewish, Unitarian, and Ethical Culture groups. The Supreme Court ruled that, though the prayer was nondenominational and students had the option of whether or not to recite the prayer and not be penalized for failure to do so, the state of New York and the school board had violated the Constitution of the United States and the rights of the students attending the public schools. Though many Americans still disagree with the verdict of the court, the ruling still stands today.
OPINIONS
The opinion of the Court was delivered by Justice Black. The Court said: “Shortly after the practice of reciting the Regents’ prayer was adopted by the School District, the parents of ten pupils brought this action in a New York State Court insisting that use of this official prayer in the public schools was contrary to the beliefs, religions, or religious practices of both themselves and their children. The New York Court of Appeals, over the dissents of Judges Dye and Fuld, sustained an order of the lower state courts which had upheld the power of New York to use the Regents’ prayer as a part of the daily procedures of its public schools so long as the schools did not compel any pupil to join in the prayer over his or his parents’ objection.
They stated that the Parents of New York United's concern was based solely on a complaint about the books going against the group's subjective values, and not the objective value of providing quality education to the students of the Island Tree School District. The student's objection to the school board's ruling to remove the “anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and just plain filthy” books garnered attention from free speech organizations and concerned libraries. When the case made it to the Supreme Court, the Justices that presided over the ruling were Justices Powell, Blackmun, Brennan, Stevens, Marshall, White, O'Connor, Rehnquist, and Chief Justice Burger.... ... middle of paper ...
Therefore, the respondents took the case to court (Island Trees…). The holding, the court’s decision, by a 5-4 vote, was “The First Amendment limits the power of local or school boards to remove library books from junior high schools and high schools” (Island Trees…). The court also said that the Board of Education “should not intervene in ‘the daily operations of school systems’ unless ‘basic constitutional values’ were ‘sharply implicate[d]”(qtd. in Board of Education, Island). The dissent consisted of Burger, Powell, Rehnquist, and O’Connor; the concurrence consisted of Blackmun and White (Island Trees…).
When the rights of the American citizen are on the line than the judiciary should utilize the powers invested in them to protect and enforce what is constitutional. However, in times of controversy, where personal preference or aspects of religious or personal nature are at hand, the judiciary should exercise their power with finesse, thereby acting out judicial restraint. An example of such is in the case of Engel v. Vitale where Mr. Justice Black delivered the opinion of the court directing the School District’s principal to read a prayer at the commencement of each school day. In cases that do not regard whether an action is constitutional or not, the judiciary should suppress their power of judicial review.
In cases having to do with constitutionality, the issue of the separation of church and state arises with marked frequency. This battle, which has raged since the nation?s founding, touches the very heart of the United States public, and pits two of the country's most important influences of public opinion against one another. Although some material containing religious content has found its way into many of the nation's public schools, its inclusion stems from its contextual and historical importance, which is heavily supported by material evidence and documentation. It often results from a teacher?s own decision, rather than from a decision handed down from above by a higher power. The proposal of the Dover Area School District to include instruction of intelligent design in biology classes violates the United States Constitution by promoting an excessive religious presence in public schools.
Board of Regents (1967). The teacher’s interest as a citizen in making public comment must be balanced against the State’s interest in promoting the efficiency of its employees’ public services. The court found the statements of the appellant were substantially correct, regarded matters of public concern, and presented no questions of faculty discipline or harmony. The statements offered no proper basis for the school board’s action in dismissing the appellant (Oyez, n.d.).
Rieff, Burt. "Conflicting Rights and Religious Liberty: The School-Prayer Controversy in Alabama, 1962-1985." Alabama Review 3(2001):163. eLibrary. Web. 31 Aug. 2011.
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To have prayer in the public school system is against the idea of separation of church and state. The state should not institute school prayer because the public schools are for education, not a place where religion should be taught (Gaylor, 1995, p. 1). The state should not force every child to say a prayer in the classroom because not everyone believes...