Moreno vs. Ector County Independent School District Board of Trustees
Article Reference
Moreno vs. Ector County Independent School District Board of Trustees. (2007, May16).
American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved April 12, 2008 from
http://www.aclu.org/religion/schools/296831lgl20070516.html
Summary of Key Points
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (2007), the Ector County Independent School District Board of Trustees authorized the teaching of the Bible course in public high schools, which promoted a particular religious viewpoint to public school students in a manner prohibited by the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The Ector County Independent School District adopted the Bible course with the primary purpose of generally advancing religion and interpreting the Bible within the public high schools (ACLU, 2007).
Mrs. Moreno and the other plaintiffs in this case believes religious education should be the responsibility of parents and religious communities, and not the public schools to which she sends her children (ACLU, 2007). Additionally, Mrs. Moreno and the other plaintiffs’ feels the use of their tax dollars to promote and endorse religion in the public school system is unconstitutional (ACLU, 2007).
The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools was adopted by the Ector County Independent School District to implement their curriculum within the high schools. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (2007), the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools presents its own particular viewpoints and conclusions regarding important issues of biblical interpretation and authorship as though they were the only possible correct viewpoints.
Moreover, the Ector County Independent School District denied public access to parents and the media to view course materials of the The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools (ACLU, 2007).
As a result, American Civil Liberties Union (2007) reported that The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools course materials fails the legal requirements of religious neutrality and objectivity in at least four fundamental ways and they are as follows:
. The Course presents the Bible from the perspective of Christianity in general and
a particular interpretation of Protestant Christianity specifically.
. The Course teaches the Bible as literal, historical truth.
. The Course uses the Bible to inculcate religious life lessons.
Name & citation of case: Urban v. Jefferson County School District R-1, 870 F. Supp. 1558 (D. CO 1994)
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In 1949, a state-wide law was passed in Pennsylvania that required public school students to read scriptures from the Bible and recite the Lord’s Prayer everyday in class. This law stayed intact until Edward Schempp challenged it nine years later. Pennsylvania wasn’t the first or the only state to enforce law making it mandatory for students to read from the Bible during school. Twenty-five additional states had laws allowing “optional” reading for the Bible. But in eleven of the twenty-five states, courts had decided those laws were unconstitutional.
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