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Prayer in Public Schools

In 1962, the United States Supreme Court invalidated prayer in public schools (Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421). In that case, the Court held that a state-composed prayer, read by teachers at the start of the school day, violated the First Amendment's prohibition against the government making any law "respecting an establishment of religion" (Engel at 425). The Court has revisited the issue, in some form or another, several times in the intervening years, most recently in Lee v. Weisman (505 U.S. 577, 1992).

In Lee, a middle school principal in Providence, Rhode Island, invited a rabbi to offer a nonsectarian invocation and benediction at graduation. The principal acted according to the policy of the Providence School Committee (Lee at 581). Deborah Weisman, a 14-year-old student, objected, but the District Court denied her request for a temporary restraining order. Weisman attended graduation, and the rabbi conducted the observance (Lee at 582). Afterwards, Weisman sought a permanent injunction prohibiting any invocation or benediction at future graduations. The District Court applied the Lemon test from the 1971 case of Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602. This is a three-part inquiry that establishes the permissibility of an action. To be permissible, the government action must (1) have a secular purpose; (2) neither advance nor inhibit religion; and (3) not foster an excessive entanglement between government and religion. All three standards must be met or the government action violates the Establishment Clause (Lemon at 602). The court found that the school's actions advanced religion and thus violated the Establishment Clause. The District Court issued a permanent injunction, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. The school district appealed to the Supreme Court, which ruled five to four in Weisman's favor.

Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion. He held that Lemon did not apply because the "government involvemen...

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Prayer in Public Schools. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 01:38, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1702923.html