Engel v. Vitale

1. Engel v. Vitale Jacqueline Brody Michael Elliott Thaddeus Goodchild

2. Case Summary • Action brought by the families of students in Union Free School District No. 9 in New Hyde Park, New York to enjoin the Board of Education in that district from its practice of directing principals to cause a 22-word, non-denominational prayer to be said aloud by students in the presence of a teacher at the beginning of each day. • State trial and appellate courts upheld the use of the prayer as Constitutional. • The U.S. Supreme Court held that the daily recitation of the prayer was a “religious activity” sanctioned and promulgated by the State of NY through its Board of Education and, as such, was “wholly inconsistent” with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment despite the fact that student’s were not required to participate in the prayer.

3. Brief History of World Religion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_9Nu0tGTEM

4. What is religion? • A religion is a system of human thought which usually includes a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power, deity, or deities, or ultimate truth.

5. What is a cult? • A religious group whose beliefs or practices could be considered strange or sinister

6. American Religious Demographics • Game

7. Brief Survey • How many people here practice the same religion as their parents?

8. The Framers’ Views on Separation of Church and State • Governmentally established religions and religious persecution have gone hand-in-hand • Indeed, colonists fled England for America to avoid just this. • Common assertion amongst evangelical conservatives: “We were founded as a Christian nation.” • Most of the Founding Fathers were Deists • Creator Framers referenced is not meant to be read as the God of the Bible; but instead is meant to emphasize that no person or government can create or take away natural rights.

9. Language of the First Amendment • “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” • Purposes • protect the government from religion • protect religion from the government.

10. The Establishment Clause • The Establishment Clause prohibits the government from actively promoting or establishing religion. • “It is generally agreed that the Establishment Clause seeks to assure the separation of church and state in a nation characterized by religious pluralism.”

11. Religious Pluralism American faiths

12. Scope of Establishment Clause? • Only state establishment of a national religion? • Any government reference to religion or God? • “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance? • Prayer in school?

13. Is America a Christian Nation? Videos • Obama • Representative Forbes • John McCain

14. Important cases before Engel • Until 1943, the First Amendment only applied to the federal government, not the states. • Minersville School District v. Gobitas (1940) • children of Jehova’s Witnesses could be expelled for refusing to salute the American flag for religious reasons • Free Exercise Clause? • West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943). • overruled Minersville • the First Amendment now applies to the states.

15. Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing Township (1947) • Facts • New Jersey law allowed reimbursements for public transportation to parents who sent their children to Catholic school. • Holding • The law did not violate the Establishment Clause because the money did not go to parochial schools, and the law was a “general program” that assisted parents of all religions.

16. Illinois ex rel.. McCollum v. Board of Education (1948) • Facts • Voluntary religious classes were being taught in public school classrooms. • Holding • The law violated the Establishment Clause because the classes were being taught in tax-supported property and the school was entangled with religion.

17. Zorach v. Clauson(1952) • Facts • Students were allowed to leave public school to attend religious instruction off-campus • Holding • This “released time” program was constitutional. The government need not be hostile to religion.

18. McCarthyism and Government Promotion of Christianity

19. McCarthyism and Government Promotion of Christianity cont. • 1952 – Congress required that the President proclaim and National Day of Prayer • 1954 - “…under God…” incorporated into the Pledge of Allegiance • 1954 – “In God We Trust” adopted as national motto • 41% of schools had Bible reading and 33% had morning devotions • Korean War and Cold War in the 1950’s • Communism as a “godless political philosophy” • With the ideological war being waged against communism came increased religious fervor • "The fate of the world rests with the clash between the atheism of Moscow and the Christianspirit throughout other parts of the world.“ – Joseph McCarthy

20. The Case Itself Action was brought by the families of students in Union Free School District No. 9 in New Hyde Park, New York to enjoin the Board of Education in that district from its practice of directing principals to cause a 22-word, non-denominational prayer to be said aloud by students in the presence of a teacher at the beginning of each day.

21. Procedural Posture and Summary of Holding • NY Supreme Court (trial court) and NY Court of Appeals upheld the use of the prayer as Constitutional. • The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari. • Court held that daily recitation of the prayer was a “religious activity” sanctioned and promulgated by the State of New York through the Board of Education and was “wholly inconsistent” with the Establishment Clause

22. Facts of the Case • At the recommendation of the State Board of Regents the Board of Education in Union Free School District No. 9 had adopted a daily practice of each class reciting a prayer at the beginning of the school day. • Part of the “Statement on Moral and Spiritual Training in the Schools.”

23. New York’s Arguments • Students not required to participate or be present as prayer was recited. • The trial court’s required there be a system to protect those who objected to the prayer. • Neither teachers nor any school authority were allowed to comment on participation or non-participation of any student in the prayer. • The possible alternatives for non-participating students • Prayer was nondenominational and did not officially establish any particular religious beliefs.

24. Court’s Reasoning • Establishment Clause does not depend upon any showing of direct governmental compulsion. • Impermissible “indirect coercive pressure” for religious minorities to conform to the state-approved religion. • In response to the second argument: “It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment with our liberties. Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects? That the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment, may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever.” – James Madison

25. Court’s Reasoning Cont. • Response to charge that the Court was being hostile towards religion and prayer: Establishment Clause’s “first and most immediate purpose” is rested on the belief “that a union of government and religion tends to destroy government and to degrade religion.” • Religion is “too personal, too sacred, too holy to permit its ‘unhallowed perversion’ by a civil magistrate.”

26. Narrowing the Scope of the Holding • Recitation of the Pledge not affected.

27. J. Douglas’ Concurrence • Argues that holding should have broader scope • Congress and Senate’s Chaplain; SCOTUS Crier. • Quotes J. Ruteledge’s dissenting opinion Everson v. Board of Education

28. J. Stewart’s Dissent • Approves of prayer as constitutional based on fact that it was noncompulsory • Not allowing the practice deprives children of the “opportunity of sharing in the spiritual heritage of our Nation.” • Court’s review of history of English Book of Prayer and Church of England is misplaced and irrelevant to the facts of this case • Notes other government invocations of religion

29. Since Engel ∙Public Reactions to Engel ∙Subsequent Cases ∙The Law Since Engel ∙Politics ∙Modern Day Controversies

30. Public Reactions to Engel • Opposition to Engel • Polls showed that Engel was opposed by large majorities of the American people. http://www.churchstatelaw.com/commentaries/engelvvitale.asp/ • Conservatives noted case as marking the beginning of “America’s downfall” The Battle over School Prayer – How Engle v. Vitale Changed America, Bruce J. Dierenfield, page 5 . • Conservatives argue that many modern day problems – such as “illegitimate births, the divorce rate, drug use, racial unrest, public protests, and violence” – are all a result of taking prayer out of school. Id. • For the next four decades, public anger brought many calls for a constitutional amendment to restore what Engel “took away.”http://law.jrank.org/pages/6483/Engel-v-Vitale.html • Many school boards continued to offer prayers at school events, such as graduation ceremonies and athletic events. Id.

31. Public Reactions to Engel

32. Public Reactions to Engel • Proponents of Engel • The ruling in Engel was a landmark victory for church-state seperationists who marked it as the beginning of a new era in First Amendment doctrine. http://law.jrank.org/pages/6483/Engel-v-Vitale.html • Engel was never overruled

33. Public Reactions to Engel

34. Public Reactions to Engel

35. Subsequent Cases • Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963) • Holding: struck down Bible readings in public schools. Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577 (1992) Holding: the Supreme Court held that a high school principal acting in accordance with school board policy violated the Establishment Clause by inviting a local clergyman to deliver a nonsectarian prayer at graduation. Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, 530 U.S. 290 (2000) Holding: the Court ruled that the recitation of a prayer over a school microphone by a student and supervised by a school faculty member at a football game in accordance with school policy violated the First Amendment.

36. Subsequent Cases • Chamberlin v. Bd. of Pub. Instruction, 377 U.S. 40 (1964) • Holding: It is unconstitutional to read the bible and recite the Lord's Prayer in public school. Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980) Holding: disallowed a state law requiring posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. Treen v. Karen B., 455 U.S. 913 (1982) Holding: a statute authorizing student volunteers to lead classroom prayers in a public school violated the Establishment Clause.

37. Subsequent Cases • Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985) • Holding: The court held that the statute authorizing a daily period of silence in public schools for meditation or voluntary prayer was an endorsement of religion lacking any clearly secular purpose, and thus violated the Establishment Clause • *Subsequent “minute of silence” laws have generally survived legal challenges • *As many as 18 states already permit moments of silence under law

38. Subsequent Cases • Equal Access Act • To clarify the circumstances in which public high school students may gather for religious purposes, including prayers, Congress in 1984 enacted the Equal Access Act, which provides student-led religious groups the same right of access to school facilities for their meetings as is enjoyed by other student-led non-religious groups. • Board of Education v. Mergens, 496 US. 226 (1990) • Holding: Upheldthe Equal Access Act against constitutional challenge . • Good News Club v. Milford Cent. Sch., 533 U.S. 98 (2001) • Holding: the court held that a refusal to let a Christian Club meet on public school property violated the Constitution.

39. The Law Since Engel • Between 1971 and 1990 the Supreme Court used a three-part test to determine whether state programs involving religion were permitted under the Establishment Clause.http://www.enotes.com/everyday-law-encyclopedia/school-prayer-pledge-allegiance. • The standard, first announced in Lemon v.Kurtzman, 411 U.S. 192(1971), is referred to as the Lemon test, and has three conditions for policies regarding religion in school: • 1.) that it has a secular purpose, • 2.) that it has a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion, and • 3.) that it does not excessively entangle government with religion. In the 1990s, the Supreme Court refused to apply this test. Id. By 2001, the test for compliance with the Establishment Clause generally required that a school policy demonstrate a secular purpose that neither advances nor inhibits religion in its principal effect. Id. Courts continued to carefully scrutinize such policies to see that they did not endorse, show favoritism toward, or promote religious ideas. Id.

40. Politics • School prayer advocates have made numerous attempts since Engel to use politics to advance their agenda.In June 1998, House members voted 224 to 203 in favor of a school prayer amendment, but that was not enough to meet the two-thirds majority needed for approval. http://www.enotes.com/everyday-law-encyclopedia/school-prayer-pledge-allegiance.

41. Politics • Another Congressional effort, however, has borne more success for school prayer advocates. Id. In 1984, with strong backing from conservative religious groups, Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan signed the Equal Access Act. Id. This law requires any federally funded public secondary school to allow all school clubs, including religious organizations, equal access to facilities, but instructs teachers and officials not to encourage or solicit participation in these activities. • In addition, members of Congress have attempted but failed to pass the Constitutional Restoration Act. This Act would limit the power of the courts to deny religion in the public sphere. The Act was filed on March 3, 2005 by SenatorRichard Shelby (R-AL) and RepresentativeRobert Aderholt (R-AL). The bill states that: • “The Supreme Court shall not have jurisdiction to review, by appeal, writ of certiorari, or otherwise, any matter to the extent that relief is sought against an entity of Federal, State, or local government, or against an officer or agent of Federal, State, or local government (whether or not acting in official or personal capacity), concerning that entity's, officer's, or agent's acknowledgment of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government.” • The bill would impeach judges or other court officials that violate its provisions. • Supporters of the bills, largely conservativeRepublicans, claim that the legislation re-asserts the original meaning of the First Amendment and the principle of limited government power over rights of conscience and religion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_Restoration_Act. • Opponents of the bill have expressed concern that the bill would repeal the applicability of the First Amendment to state and local governments by rendering it impossible to appeal constitutionally questionable state decisions beyond the state level. Id. The Act has been viewed by critics as an attempt to advance the cause of Dominionism by conservativeevangelical Christian Republicans. Id.

42. Modern Day Controversies • Prayer in School • Pledge of Allegiance • In God We Trust • Religious Holidays in School

43. Prayer in Public School Prayer in School Video Clip

44. Prayer in Public School (Sports) YouTube - Kicked out of school for refusing to join prayer circle

45. Prayer in Public School • Now home schooled and chances ruined for getting an athletic scholarship. http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Story?id=3164811&page=4 • "I didn't think they had religion in sports. But when it came to basketball they would pray before and after practices. They would pray during games. And you know, praying was a tradition for them and that is what they said." Id. • Even the opposing basketball team joined in -- from the stands, school officials bowed their heads. "You could see that all of the teachers that work at the school, the administration had their heads bowed and were saying the Lord's Prayer with the kids. Coach has his head bowed. It's a thing that everyone does." Id. • School administrators said Nicole was bad for team morale and that she'd stolen another student's sneakers, so their reasons for kicking her off were fair. Nicole claims the charges they made were unfounded. Id. • A year later, Nicole was allowed back on the team. This time, when the prayer started, she stayed outside the circle. "I just stood outside of it and said the Pledge of Allegiance … Without the 'under God.'" Id. • The next school day, Nicole was suspended -- this time, she was accused of threatening to kill a team member. But according to Nicole, she never said that. Id. • The parties reached a settlement in October 2008, with the school district paying an undisclosed amount to the Smalkowskis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardesty_Public_School_District

46. Prayer in Public School • YouTube - Muslim School Prayer In Public San Diego School

47. The Pledge of Allegiance • “Under God” added by Congress in 1954 • Previous cases • Gobitas • Barnett:

48. Issues with Pledge • What does “One nation, Under God” mean? • Why was “under God” added to the Pledge, and what benefit does it serve? • Is the Pledge of Allegiance a Prayer? • What are the problems with saying it?

49. Elk Grove Unified School Dist. v. Newdow(2004) Facts: • Atheist father brought suit claiming the recital of the Pledge of Allegiance in his daughters class violates Establishment Cl. Holding: • the Supreme Court threw out the case based on standing because the plaintiff did not have legal custody of his daughter. Concurring: • Rehnquist, O'Connor and Thomas wrote that if the case had been decided on its merits, they would have upheld the words "under God" as constitutional. Id.

50. School Vouchers • What are they?