Engel v. Vitale (1962)

The state cannot hold prayers in public schools, even if participation is not required and the prayer is not tied to a particular religion.

• Court held 6 to 2 that requiring prayer in public schools was a violation of the First Amendment establishment clause.

• Summary of the case from PBS American Experience

View Johnathan Engel, son of Stephen Engel (plaintiff of above case), speaking about the Establishment clause and specifically school prayer, Begin at Minute 8:30 : Video Here

Legislatures can begin sessions with a prayer

• Link to 1983 Supreme Court ruling here

Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38, 53 (1985)

• "An Alabama law authorized teachers to conduct regular religious prayer services and activities in school classrooms during the school day. Three of Jaffree's children attended public schools in Mobile"

• The Court held that Alabama's passage of the prayer and meditation statute was not only a deviation from the state's duty to maintain absolute neutrality "toward religion, but was an affirmative endorsement of religion" 

Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971)

The Lemon Test

Since 1971, Federal courts have used the framework laid out in the ruling set forth in Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971)

• Known as the Lemon Test, the three-point frame work directs courts to inquire, while presiding over matters of separation of church and state, if

• (1) whether the government's action has a secular or a religious purpose
• (2) whether the primary effect of the government's action is to advance or endorse religion
• (3) whether the government's policy or practice fosters an excessive entanglement between government and religion 

Questions and Answers about Prayer in Public Schools, Anti-Defamation League

• Organized prayer in the public school setting, whether in the classroom or at a school-sponsored event, is unconstitutional.

• The only type of prayer that is constitutionally permissible is private, voluntary student prayer that does not interfere with the school's educational mission.

School Prayer:  50 Years after the Ban, God and Faith More Present than Ever, Christian Science Monitor (June 16, 2013)

The Establishment Clause and the Wall of Separation

Introduction to the Establishment Clause

The Establishment Clause and the Schools:  A Legal Bulletin, ACLU

The Two Religion Clauses, from Teaching American History.org reviews the religion debates of the First Congress

First Amendment Landmark Supreme Court Cases

Letters between Thomas Jefferson and the Danbury Baptists (1802)

Jefferson wrote:

"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ʺmake no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,ʺ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."

  Questions for students: How do the Legislative and Judiciary branches of government interact over issues of separation of church and state? What is the Supreme Court's role in setting laws over school prayer?

Listen to NPR's 

Supreme Court Case Puts Public Prayer Back In The Spotlight

Which grapples with the issue of prayer at government functions, something which branches from the same legal tree as school prayer.