Zeus And Hera Essay, Research Paper

Many traditions had developed within American culture that breached this wall of

separation. For example, our coins have "In God We Trust" printed into

them, The Pledge of Allegiance still contains the phrase "under God,"

and many of our governmental ceremonies have prayer as their opening activity.

For years, many public school districts mandated that the school day begin with

some sort of prayer. The first case to come to the Supreme Court regarding

school prayer was that of Engel v. Vitale in 1961. A group of ten parents sued

the Board of Education of Union Free School District No. 9 in Hyde Park, New

York for having the following prayer said aloud in the presence of a teacher

every day: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence on Thee, and we beg

Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our Country." The

prayer was composed by the New York State Board of Regents, which is a state

agency, and which had broad supervisory powers over the state’s public schools.

The prayer was part of the Regents’ "Statement on Moral and Spiritual

Training In The Schools." A class action was brought by a set of ten

parents who felt the prayer was contrary to the religious practices of both the

parents and the students, and they maintained that the state’s use of this

prayer violated that part of the Federal Constitution that states "Congress

shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion." This clause

was made applicable to state law by the Fourteenth Amendment to the

Constitution. The lower courts that heard the case upheld the power of New York

to allow the prayer to be said each day as long as no student was forced to

participate or if the student was compelled to do so over the parents’

objection.

Selected Historic Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court – http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/historic.htm

Read about how school prayer played a role in the 1996 election at Education

Week On The Web: http://www.edweek.org/context/election/prayer.htm