Santa Fe Independent School District Case Study

In 1995, a lawsuit was filed against the Santa Fe Independent School District. Students had been leading Christian prayers before football games. The case made it’s way up to the Supreme Court, claiming these prayers were a violation of the First Amendment. The First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”. This means that US citizens are free to practice any religion they choose, as long as they respect public morals. The amendment also states that and that the government cannot endorse a particular religion, which was added to ensure that the government couldn’t have an established religion, like England had at a time, the Church of England. Another

The school had a tradition of delivering overtly christian prayers before every football game. One Mormon family, as well as one Catholic family filed a lawsuit, claiming that these prayers violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. While the lawsuit was pending, the District Court created a new policy, stating that student initiated, nonsectarian, nonproselytizing prayer was permitted, not required, and that two student elections to determine if the prayers should take place, and then to decide who would lead the prayer. The case reached the Supreme Court by March, 2000. The plaintiffs were permitted to file as John/Jane Does, and the Defendant was the Santa Fe Independent School District (SFISD). SFISD claimed that the prayers were private student speech, not public, and that they were not required by the school. Doe argued that these prayers were done in a public setting, and therefore violated Establishment Clause. In a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that praying at a football game was public speech, these prayers violated the establishment clause. Justice Stevens, part of the majority, wrote “Such speech is not properly characterized as "private,"” and that the district helping these prayers to happen was a form of government endorsing

Freedom of Religion has changed the US over time, and is still changing it today. This amendment has helped resolve religious conflicts, as well as preventing some from happening, like the Salem Witch Trials. It has also helped in making a safe environment for diversity of religion, as well as sharing each other’s. This amendment has brought people of the same and different religions together, by erasing the tensions of a government sponsored religion, and has allowed people to share their religion with others, bringing us all closer together as a country. However, it has brought some people apart. People against other religions or against things that were originally "against their religion" have been separated by this amendment. My direct family personally is not religious, and this amendment has allowed us to be non-religious and celebrate holidays like christmas without being christian, and not being forced to have a religion. Because of this, I barely have to think about religion. Before, I didn't really understand how many modern day things were linked to religion, and how often this amendment still comes up today. I thought the constitution couldn’t