who should make decision on policy on school prayer

[name]

[professor /instructor]

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May 25 , 2007

The School Prayer Controversy

There has never been an era in American history when the issue of prayer in public schools has been more contentious . Several issues are involved . This is a very litigious society and the American Civil Liberties Union , concerned strictly with the Bill of Rights , is more active than ever . The conservative religious right ' firmly believes the removal of prayer from public schools has resulted in moral degradation of school children . This is a society increasingly obsessed with

rights and entitlements , not duties and responsibilities . Finally ethnic changes in America have changed the paradigm of the previously assumed Christian prayer in school . As each of these issues has a different texture and impact depending on geographic location , and as constitutional issues are the sole purview of the Supreme Court , it is appropriate the Court will continue to be the final arbiter of the school prayer issue

In Engel v . Vitale , 370 U .S . 421 (1962 ) the United States Supreme Court held specifically that the State of New York was prohibited from establishing and maintaining an official ' public school prayer However , the broader holding was the Court would take exclusive jurisdiction of the issue as it arose from the First Amendment to the Constitution , enforceable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment (Engle at 424

Without this exclusive jurisdiction , it would be left to the individual states to determine the issue , with the chaotic result being an ever-changing patchwork of law across the nation , depending on demographics and ongoing litigation and legislation . The uniformity of the availability and applicability of the Bill of Rights throughout the states is a fundamental concept of the United States and a vital necessity if the Bill of Rights is to have any meaning

The Court has continued its judicial scrutiny in Lee v . Weisman , 505 U .S . 577 (1992 . Once again the narrow issue was a commencement prayer which the Court held to be unconstitutional . The Court reiterated the broader issue

The principle that government may accommodate the free exercise of religion does not supersede the fundamental limitations imposed by the Establishment Clause , which guarantees at a minimum that a government may not coerce anyone to support or participate in religion or its exercise , or otherwise act in a way which "establishes a [state] religion or religious faith , or tends to do so . Lee at 7-8 (citing Lynch v . Donnelly , 465 U .S . 668 (1984

In practice , the issue can be quite confusing in terms of the right to private prayer as opposed to a school sanctioning private prayer . Issues have arisen regarding moments of silence ' and prayer in schools after class by student groups . In an effort to dispel confusion , the United States Department of Education published in 2003 its Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools ' detailing all of the nuances of the complicated issue and the application of the law in specific circumstances . As complex as the issue...