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Each Branch of the American government has a specialized job when it comes to issues that affect the country like prayer in school. Attitudes toward prayer in school have changed over the years, but the job of the different branches of the American government have not changed when it comes to making laws about prayer in school, enforcing laws about prayer about how the constitution applies to issues like prayer in school the American government is set up to make sure all issues like prayer in school get dealt in a way that is fair and equal to all: the Legislative Branch establishes laws which are passed that say if prayer in school is to be allowed or not and how prayer in school can be conducted if it is allowed in school; the Executive Branch is responsible to make sure that all schools in America are following the same …show more content…
rules about prayer in school that were set up by the Legislative Branch; the Judicial Branch is in place to decide if the rules set up by the Legislative Branch about prayer in school have been broken or not. The Legislative Branch of American Government makes the laws for the American people disagree like to allow prayer in school. Various member of Congress have been trying to submit changes or amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America that address prayer in school once and for all. No changes or additions have been done from 1962 until 1984 when the Equal Access Act was passed. The Constitution of the United States of America says that we must have a separation between govern – Equal Access Act said that clubs and other organizations are allowed to have prayer in school when it is led by the students, and they do not disrupt education. Thus in June 1998, house members voted 224 to 203 in favor of a school pray er amendment, but that simple majority fell far short of the two-thirds majority needed for approval. The Another Congressional effort t has borne some success for school pray ere advocates. In 1984, with strong backing from conser vative religious group, Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan signed the Equal Access Act. The law requires any federally-funded public secondary school to all school clubs, including religious organizations, equal. The Executive Branch is the branch of the American government that has to make sure everyone is not being offended by other’s religion and prayers while they are at school. In 1984, the president at the time, Ronald Reagan, signed a bill about prayer in school called the Equal Access Act. The Executive Branch of the American government uses the Lemon test to tell whether or not any activity that has prayer in school is following the Constitution’s Establishment Clause in the First Amendment. The Lemon test has three parts that the activity with prayer in school has to be 1. The purpose has to be for a non- religious reason 2. It cannot stop or start religion 3. It cannot make a connection between the American government and a religion of any kind. The Judicial Branch of the American has the job to decide if the two clauses in the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States has been violated or upheld.
The first case about prayer in school that ever went all the way to the Supreme Court was Engel V. Vitale in 1962 when non- Christian students felt obligated to say a Christian prayer in school. In 1936, two other supreme court cases (Abington Saheel Distinct V. Schrempp and Murray V. Curlett decided that reading the Bible and saying the Lord’s Prayer as a whole could not be allowed at school. The latest cases happened in the 1990s when people started speaking out against religious prayer at school event like sports games or graduations or other ceremonies where it was ruled that prayer is not allowed. The following two cases came the Court’s decision in Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), a ruling that established the Lemon test for religious activities within schools. The while students do continue to in public schools, even in organized groups such as “See you at the pole”, the lawsuit disallowed school from including prayer as compulsory activity required of every
student. In conclusion, each of the three Branches of the American government has a job to in the area of prayer in school. The Constitution of the United States says that there has to be a “separation of church and state.” This means that each branch of the American government must do its part to make sure that government stays separated apart from religion. If it is making laws, enforcing laws, or interpreting laws each branch does its own job to make sure prayer in school is done the Work Cited
In 1971 in Mobile County Alabama the School Board created a state statute that set aside time at the beginning of each day for silent ’meditation’ (statute 6-1-20), and in 1981 they added another statute 16-1-20.1 which set aside a minute for ‘silent prayer’ as well. In addition to these, in 1982 the Mobile County School Board enacted statute 16-1-20.2, which specified a prayer that teachers could lead ‘willing’ students in “From henceforth, any teacher or professor in any public educational institution within the State of Alabama, recognizing that the Lord God is one, at the beginning of any homeroom or any class, may pray, may lead willing students in prayer, or may lead the willing students in the following prayer to God… “ (Jaffree By and Through Jaffree v. James). Ishmael Jaffree was the father of three students, Jamael Aakki Jaffree, Makeba Green, and Chioke Saleem Jaffree, who attended a school in Mobile County Alabama. Jaffree complained that his children had been pressured into participating in religious activities by their teachers and their peers, and that he had requested that these activities stopped. When the school did nothing about Jaffree’s complaints he filed an official complaint with the Mobile County School Board through the United States District Courts. The original complaint never mentioned the three state statutes that involved school prayer. However, on June 4, 1982 Jaffree changed his complaint. He now wanted to challenge the constitutionality of statutes 16-1-20, 16-1-20.1 and 16-1-20.2, and motioned for a preliminary injunction. The argument against these state laws was that they were an infringement of the Establishment Clause within the First Amendment of the Constitution, which states that Congr...
This example of a Supreme Court case shows that the court is not above politics. Even though most Americans, including government officials, practiced some form of Christianity, the judges were not willing to compromise the information in the Constitution for the popular beliefs of individuals. I agree with the Supreme Court in its decision to ban the practice of prayer in public schools. Not only does it violate the Constitution, but it encroaches on our freedom of thought and action. Being excluded from a public classroom because of personal beliefs does not sound just.
The First Amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. There are several ways to apply this to the issue of prayer in school. Arguments can be made for both groups of people who are for and against prayer in school. What does it all boil down to? Freedom of religion still applies, just do not organize or endorse it in our schools.
The court system has jumped back and forth throughout the years and this may seem very confusing to the average person but they’ve never changed their mind on the big cases that were said in the previous paragraph. But the court seems to be sporadic in its decisions outside of these big cases. It all starts in 1962 when they held that prayer in the public schools was a violation of the first amendment.
In 1958 five parents of the Long Island community brought suit to stop the prayers use in schools. Two parents were Jewish; one parent was a Unitarian, One a member of The Ethical Culture Society and One Self-Professed Atheist. At first the lawsuit failed. Justice Bernard S. Meyer found the prayer religious but not in violation. Instead, Justice Meyer ordered the schools to set up safe guards against “embarrassing and pressures” towards children who did not wish to participate. The New York Appellate Division upheld this decision along with the state’s Court of Appeals, by a vote of 5-2.
The case Engel v. Vitale in 1962 decided that school prayer is unconstitutional. With this case, it was pointed out that the students were to "voluntarily" recite the following prayer: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our country." The court ruled that this rule was unconstitutional according to the First Amendment's "establishment clause," which states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."
The case Elk Grove Unified School District versus Newdow came about when a student parent, Michael Newdow, an atheist, has a disagreement with the Pledge of Allegiance. Elk Grove Unified School District is a public elementary school where teachers begin the day by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, but it is considering being voluntary. Under California law, all elementary schools must recite the Pledge of Allegiance once a day unless those student object due to their religion. As stated before, in 1954 the Congressional Act added the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance. Michael Newdow took it upon himself to review the School District policy referring to the religious portion. This caused Michael Newdow to sue in the federal district court in California, stating making students listen to the Pledge of Allegiance, even if the students do not choose to participate to the word “under God” violates the establishment clause of the United States Constitution’s First Amendment
Praying in school was first addressed in the Supreme Court in 1962 in the Engle v. Vitale case. The Establishment Clause inserted and stated Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. The court ruled the Union Free School District in Hyde Park, NY had violated the First Amendment by directing the principals to cause the following prayer to be said aloud by each class in the presence of a teacher at the beginning of each school day: “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country” (Longley, "Public"). I agree with the court ruling because not all students in a classroom share the same beliefs. To cause everyone to say this prayer surely violates their rights.
Prohibiting School Prayer Threatens Religious Liberty. Civil Liberties. Ed. James D. Torr. -. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003.
Prayer in School: Good or Bad? As secular humanists and groups like the Christian Coalition are at war with each other regarding prayer in high schools behind closed doors in Washington DC, the average high school kid is the one that gets caught in the middle. For years now there has been a heated debate about whether or not prayer should be allowed in school. Every time the argument is rekindled, it ends in a stalemate, and is a topic that campaigning politicians tend to stay away from.
In 1995, a lawsuit was filed against the Santa Fe Independent School District. Students had been leading Christian prayers before football games. The case made it’s way up to the Supreme Court, claiming these prayers were a violation of the First Amendment. The First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”. This means that US citizens are free to practice any religion they choose, as long as they respect public morals. The amendment also states that and that the government cannot endorse a particular religion, which was added to ensure that the government couldn’t have an established religion, like England had at a time, the Church of England. Another
This paper discusses how the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the United States government interact to allow each individual in a public school freedom to pray while not endorsing any religion.
The Supreme Court has just received Santa Fe v the people, in this case the students was banned from saying a prayer at a foot ball game . The constitution protects the right to free speech. Therefore, there is no reason for this case to have come up in the first place. If someone does not want to hear a prayer, they do not have to listen to it. If I were the judge I would rule that banning prayer at school events is unconstitutional.
Having any prayer in school goes against the basis in which our country was formed upon. America came into being because colonists wanted religious freedom. Our founding fathers carefully wrote the constitution to grant the freedom of separation of church and state. A prayer created and supported by a government violate the very essence of the spirit in which the US was formed. (Haas35)
To have prayer in the public school system is against the idea of separation of church and state. The state should not institute school prayer because the public schools are for education, not a place where religion should be taught (Gaylor, 1995, p. 1). The state should not force every child to say a prayer in the classroom because not everyone believes...