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Did Santa Fe Independent School District violate the Establishment Clause by saying a prayer before every home, varsity football game? The parents of a few of the children brought the case to court. The compained that the prayers were Christian based and very bias. The Santa Fe Independent School District did violate the Establishment Clause.
“Character and purpose of institution benefited.” This is the first of three parts to the Lemon Test. It means the purpose of the law is non-religious, but educational. It is an educational form of prayer and not made for you to question your religion. The people in the case had every right to not participate or to not listen. They may not like the choice the school made, but they still have their rights
to not listen, or come a little later so they don’t hear it. Earlier in the same year the school had held a vote if the students wanted the prayers to be said over the intercom and if so who was going to say them. “Nature of aid the state provides.” This is the second part of the Lemon Test. It states that if the announcement is not based on one religion it is allowed. If the prayer is neutral toward all religions it is perfectly legal, but if the prayer is made to sway your decision to be the religion you were raised as, or what you don’t want to be, it is no longer legal or Constitutional and may not be allowed to be said over the intercom or public address system. “Resulting relationships between government and religions authority.” This is the third and final part of the Lemon Test. It states that you can’t mix government and religion. The government is not allowed to fund any religion in school activities such as mandatory prayers or bible readings. In the case of Santa Fe Independent School District, the prayers weren’t funded by the government or forced by the government. The court ruled that the Santa Fe Independent School District did violate the Establishment Clause because it was a religious act that was performed on school school property which is “government” property. The acts that were performed also violated the third part of the Lemon Test, stating that prayers could not be administered on government property. By the end of that case the family's won with a vote of six to three and the prayers before football games were ruled unconstitutional.