School Prayer in America: Law, Rights, and Debate

Introduction: Religion in Early American Public Schools

There was a time in America when, although the Constitution guarantees a separation of church and state, many government institutions still encouraged or at least included components based on religious practices. In the past, children in American public schools would enter the classroom, stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, and then join their classmates in prayer. In the locker room, the football or basketball coach would lead players in a prayer — both for victory and that no one would be injured in the game. Because the majority of American citizens were Christian, they would logically pray to the Christian God. Students who did not belong to the Christian faith could either abstain from this activity or pray along with the other students in order to participate.

That changed after legislation was passed making prayer in school unlawful on the basis of various constitutional protections. Following a series of lawsuits, the government became directly involved in the issue of school prayer, eventually establishing a constitutional framework that banned organized prayer in public schools. Even so, because the debate touches on deeply held beliefs about religious identity and civil rights, it has never fully subsided.

Legislation and Landmark Court Cases

During the 1970s and 1980s, a series of lawsuits was filed against public schools and public school districts. Often these suits were initiated by members of the community who did not belong to the Christian religion. These families, and their political supporters, felt that their children were being forced to participate in religious practices outside of their own belief systems. The reasoning was that requiring participation in prayer violated the constitutional principle separating church and state. Even though prayer is officially banned in schools, there are still cases where public schools promote religion — particularly Christianity — in violation of both the law and the Constitution itself (Eckholm). Because of situations like these, the idea of prayer in school remains a constant source of debate, even five decades after initial legislation was passed.

Following these suits, the United States government passed legislation banning prayer in public schools. In the landmark case of Engel v. Vitale (1962), the Supreme Court determined that compelling children to participate in prayer in a public school setting was unconstitutional. Government employees could therefore neither force nor even encourage students to pray in a public school setting. The following year, Abington Township School District v. Schempp declared that school-sponsored Bible readings were also unconstitutional. According to the United States Department of Education:

"The relationship between religion and government in the United States is governed by the First Amendment to the Constitution, which both prevents the government from establishing religion and protects privately initiated religious expression and activities from government interference and discrimination. The First Amendment thus establishes certain limits on the conduct of public school officials as it relates to religious activity, including prayer" (Guidance).

This position provided the basis for the ban on school prayer, but it also gave rise to challenges by those who claimed the ban itself violated their right to express their religious beliefs.

The Establishment Clause and Student-Led Prayer

For more than a decade, school prayer was treated as a settled legal matter in American public schools. However, in recent years there has been a surge in lawsuits challenging the ban. One prominent example involved a football team in the American South. According to news reports, the team captain wished to lead the team in prayer, and over the stadium loudspeakers, a student chaplain delivered a Christian prayer. Because neither the coach nor any other public school employee was directly involved, the team argued that the prayer represented a valid expression of their own religious beliefs, and the issue went to court. The United States Supreme Court ruled in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe that this practice violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and prohibited the school from continuing it.

Conclusion

It is unlikely that this question will ever be satisfactorily answered for all parties concerned, because both sides of the debate are adamant that their position is the correct one. Those who favor prayer in school argue that its eradication has led to moral decay and that reinstatement would restore a sense of moral responsibility in young people. They also assert that the ban prevents their children from practicing their religion. Those who oppose school prayer maintain that allowing the practice violates the constitutional mandate barring entanglement between church and state. It is unlikely that either side will abandon its position, and the debate will almost certainly continue for the foreseeable future.

Works Cited

Duin, Julia. "School Prayer Charges Stir Protests." The Washington Times. 2011. Print.

Eckholm, Erik. "Battling Anew over the Place of Religion in Public Schools." The New York Times. 2011. Print.

"Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools." US Dept. of Education. 2003. Web. 2012. http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/religionandschools/prayer_guidance.html