Religion Has No Place in Public Schools

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The constitution is a set of laws set by the government to protect the nation’s rights. One of those rights is the First Amendment which discusses the prohibition of an established religion and allows the free exercise of religion. Thomas Jefferson had written a letter discussing the separation of church and state, which has resulted in many debates over the limitations of religion in the public schools (Hamburger). There is research that supports both the arguments that students can benefit academically from the influence of religion and from keeping religious teachings separate from public schools.

Early in America's history, when it first became a country, public schools were administrated by Protestants. As a result, Protestant prayers and services became incorporated into the curriculum. Even though this was a long time ago there was a conflict with this issue because Catholic students in the schools were being taught that Catholic teachings were not true. This caused many Catholic parents to sue public schools, but no change came of it. This is one of the reasons that there are many private Catholic schools today (Irvine 187). Years later, the theory of Creationism (founded on the Christian belief that God created man), which was being taught in schools, was challenged by Darwin’s theory of Evolution. Scopes v. Tennessee is a court case that came out of this dispute between Creationism and Evolution. A teacher, John Scopes, was accused by the Tennessee State for teaching Evolution as part of the science class curriculum (Settle 121).

Today religious ideals and practices are not taught by teachers in public schools, although there are after-school activities and clubs based on religion. Regardless, there are many people who...

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...he constitutional law separating religion from public schools should ensure that.

Works Cited

Dworkin, Roberts. “Bad Arguments: The Roberts Court & Religious Schools.” New York Review of Books. 12 March 2010: eBook.

Hamburger, Philip. Separation of church and state. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002. eBook.

Irvine, Jacqueline, and Michele Foster. Growing Up in Catholic Schools. New York: Teachers College Press, 1996. 187.

King, Pamela. "Religion and Identity: The Role of Ideological, Social, and Spiritual Contexts" Applied Developmental Science 7.3 (2003): 197-204. Web. 25 Apr. 2011.

< http://www.informaworld.com/10.1207/S1532480XADS0703_11 >

Marzilli, Alan. Religion in Public Schools. Chelsea: Chelsea House Publishers, 2004. eBook.

Settle, Mary Lee. The Scopes trial: The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes. New York: F. Watt, 1972. 121.

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