PRAYER AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOL
A PATHFINDER
Dr. Yvonne Chandler
Legal Research
SLIS 5647.080
Jane Atwell
14240 Lakepoint Drive
Willis, Texas 77378
409-856-6510
PRAYER AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prayer in the public schools is a topic that evokes a multitude of emotions. The language of the Constitution establishes the separation of church and state. The First Amendment of the Constitution states that "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…" This establishes a separation of church and state but does this also demand an absence of expression of a religion in the form of a prayer at public school sponsored activities, i.e. graduation, football games, etc.?
In 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prayer and Bible readings in the public school arena violated the First Amendment after hearing the case of Engel v. Vitale. Since that case, the Supreme Court has continued to stand firm to this philosophy. The state must remain neutral. As an institution, the public school must not support religious activities on the campus, thus avoiding the appearance of the school endorsing religious activities. This established that public schools can not sponsor any religious activities. However, the public schools must allow or provide equal access to the public school facilities if it opens its facilities to other extracurricular activities
The parameters of governmental systems are established by constitutions. Constitution of the United States is a living and breathing document that hold fast to its convictions yet yields to varying interpretations. The Constitution provides authority for all federal legislation.
First Amendment
Fourteenth Amendment
B. Supreme Court Case Law
Though not the most current research tool "the U.S. Reports is an accurate, well-indexed compilation of the official text of all decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States (Berring 1995, 30). As the official publication, the advance sheets are often three years late for distribution and another year before publication.
McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203 (1948).
This case deals with release time from the school day for religious activities.
Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421, 82 S.CT. 1261, 8 L.Ed. 2d 601 (1962).
District #9 Board of Education directed principals to cause a prayer to be said aloud by
each class at the beginning of the day.
Abington Township School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963).
No state law or school board may require that passages from the Bible be read or that the
Lord’s Prayer be recited in the public school’s.
Widmar v. Vincent, 454 U.S. 263 (1981).
Use of university facilities for religious gathering.
Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985).
An Alabama statute S16-1-20.1 authorizes a 1 minute period of silence in all public
schools "for meditation or voluntary prayer." The court held invalid this
statute.
Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971).
Establishes the three questions about particular government action under the Establishment
Clause.
C. Digests
A comprehensive, stalwart in legal research finding tools and still a widely used method of case finding is the digests. These tools are arranged by subject, using the headnote summaries of each point of law treated in the cases it covers. This is as a controlled vocabulary index with paragraphs describing the legal principles. Digests are available for federal and state jurisdictions.
Tenth Decennial Digest Descriptive Word Index (1986-1991), vol. 39. St. Paul,
Minn.: West, 1993.
Look up the words: "prayer," "schools," and "religion."
Tenth Decennial Digest. St. Paul, Minn.: West, 1993.
This will list cases specific to the topics.
Key no. 178. "Graduation, and diploma or certificate."
Lists cases from various courts.
Jones v. Clear Creek Indep. Sch. Dist. 930 F.2d 416 (5th Cir. 1993.)
Nonsectarian prayer recitation at graduation did not violate establishment clause.
D. Lexis and Westlaw
These electronic case finding tools are essential to the legal researcher. "full texts of opinions from the federal courts and from all fifty states (Berring 1995)," are available within twenty-four hours in most cases. Retrospective coverage is available. These databases provide the most current research but fees are involved.
E. Administrative Law Regulations and Statutes
Goals 2000: Educate America Act of 1994, Pub.L.No. 103-227, 1995 U.S.C.C.A.N. (125
Stat.) 108.
Addresses prayer or meditation in public schools, sections 405, 418, and 406 in relation
to federal funds.
20 U.S.C.A. S8900 (West 1997).
Discusses whether federal funds can be withheld from schools.
Jones v. Clear Creek Independent School District - Accessed at the following web site:
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov:808/ISYSquery/IRL3B64.tmp/2/doc
The intent of prayer at graduation was to impress upon those in attendance of the
social significance of the moment.
Ingebreten v. Jackson Public School District - Accessed at the following web site:
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov:8081/ISYSquery/IRL3B64.tmp/1/doc
Discusses the State of Mississippi’s School Prayer Statute.
Shepard’s provides the searcher with a compilation of citations to a wide variety of cases that are connected or cited in the original case. This source is critical to a thorough search of any case.
III. LEGAL INFORMATION SECONDARY SOURCES
A. American Law Reports –A.L.R.
The A.L.R. is an editorial commentary of selected cases. Those chosen are important in their own right and of national significance. This is a good springboard for comparisons of facts with one’s own case. Check the pocket parts (in the back) for the latest revisions.
A.L.R. Index, Rochester, New York: Lawyer’s Cooperative, 1993.
Research the topic using key words "prayer," "school,"
"religion."
America Law Reports, A.L.R. 3d Cases and Annotations, vol. 30. Rochester, New York: Lawyer’s Co-operative, 1970.
D. H. White, Annotation, What Constitutes "Prayer" under Federal Constitutional Prohibition of Prayer in Public Schools, 30A.L.R. 3d 1352 (1970).
Discusses the case law which has considered the narrow and specific question of what constitutes a prayer. DeSpain v. DeKalb Co. Comm. Sch., 384 F2d 836, 1967.
Martin J. McMahon, Annotation, Constitutionality of Regulation Or Policy Governing
Prayer, Meditation, Or "Moment of Silence" In Public Schools, 110 A.L.R. FED
211 (1992).
Reviews the constitutionality of reading, without comment, verses from the Holy Bible and
the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer by the students…
Chamberlain v. Dade County Bd. Of Pub. Instruction. 377 U.S. 402, (1964).
B. Legal Encyclopedias & Dictionary
Multi-volume sets in alphabetical, subject order, legal encyclopedias discuss relevant issues in encyclopedic fashion. These do offer a good starting point for research.
Corpus Juris Secundrum
16A C.J.S. Constitutional Law S521 (1996).
Religious Observances; Prayer or Silence. Religious observances are prohibited by the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Prayers by students in public school prescribed by school authorities violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. See also: "Schools" and "Prayer."
78A C.J.S. Schools and School Districts S781 (1995).
Public school authorities are prohibited from engaging in essentially religious activities…
American Jurisprudence
16A Am.Jur. 2d, Constitutional Law S481 (1979).
Section 481. – Education includes cases that address school property used as a place of worship or for religious purposes. Refers one to the following case:
68 Am.Jur. 2d, Schools S295 (1971).
Words and Phrases
Words and Phrases, "Prayer" (1971). Defines the word "Prayer"
C. Electronic Sources for Articles
Electronic sources can include the Lexis-Nexis database, the Westlaw database, and a variety of others that offer published opinions, journals, and reviews of cases and codes. Examples: Using Lexis-Nexis database, choosing the Law Reviews database, and the search terms ‘prayer AND public schools’ the following selections were displayed among others:
John M. Swomley, Essay: Myths About Voluntary School Prayer, 35 Washburn L.J.
294 (1996).
Examines the myths, assumptions and claims that continue to fuel the controversy over
prayer in public schools.
Geoffrey R. Stone, In Opposition to the School Prayer Amendment, 50 U.
Chi.L.Rev. 823, (1983).
Reviews the fallout from the Engel and Schempp cases and the Reagan constitutional
amendment to allow prayer in school.
Mary Ellen Quinn Johnson, Comment: School Prayer and the Constitution: Silence
Is Golden, 48 Md.L.Rev. 108 (1989).
Johnson reviews amendments that have been proposed over the years.
Robert M. O’Neil, Article: Who Says You Can’t Pray? 3
Va.J.Soc.Pol’y&L. 347 (1996).
Examines the elusiveness of the Establishment Clause and permissible activities under said
clause.
Other databases are available with articles from a variety of journals.
Other databases include:
Electric Library:
http://www.elibrary.com.html
Subscription database of magazines, newspapers, books, television and radio
broadcasts etc., that allows the searcher to review public sentiment on topics. Subject
search – ‘Prayer AND Public Schools.’
Articles include the following:
Douglas M. Bloomfield, Rewriting the Constitution Is Bad Legislative Policy, MetroWest
Jewish News, accessed 8 April, 1998.
Reviews the so-called Religious Freedom Amendment intended to allow prayer in school and
at public events like school.
Ted G. Jelen and Clyde Wilcox, Conscientious Objectors in the Culture War? A
Typology of Attitudes Toward Church-State Relations. Sociology of Religion, vol. 58
p.277(11) 1997.
Reviewing the relationships of the religious against the not-so religious or the
religiously "orthodox" against "progressives."
Internet
Various search engines will allow subject or topical searching with Boolean operators
and /or freestyle or natural language.
An example using the same search terminology provides the following results:
Blume, Paul. The Equal Access Act: Religion in Schools. Arkansas School Boards
Association, 1997. Accessed 14 April, 1998.
Discusses the Equal Access Act as it affects religion in schools.Their web site follows:
http://www.arsba.org/religion295.html
FindLaw Internet Legal Resources. This web site allows case finding tools for searching
laws cases and codes.
http://www.findlaw.com
An example:
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/scripts/casese
The U.S. Constitution is available as well as annotations of decisions and reviews of subject material.
An example:
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment01/03.html
Subject searches included ‘Free Exercise Clause,’ ‘Religion and
Public Schools,’ ‘Constitution,’ and ‘Constitutional Amendments.’
Oliver Thomas, The Supreme Court, Religion, and Public Education, Finding
Common Ground: Chapter 4, (Apr. 27, 1998) http://www.fac.org./publicat/cground/ch04_1.html.
Discusses the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause.
Norman L. Geisler, 10 Reasons for Voluntary School Prayer, The Shreveport Humanist Bulletin, Aug., 1995 (April 27, 1998) http://www.softdisk.com/comp/shume/politics/pray1.html.
A. Journal:
Prayer in Public Schools. Congressional Digest 74, no1 (1995).
Discusses points of view of various legislators as well as the pro and con views of prayer
in public schools.
B. Books:
LANDMARK DECISIONS OF THE UNITED
STATES SUPREME COURT
(Maureen Harrison & Steve Gilbert eds., 1991).
Discusses school prayer and Engel v. Vitale (1962).
PRAYER IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND
THE CONSTITUTION, 1961-1992 (Robert Sikorski, ed., and
introduction, Garland Publishers, 1993).
Discusses protecting religious speech in public school; the Establishment, and the Free
Exercise clauses in the public arena.
EDWARD KEYNES AND RANDALL K.
MILLER, THE COURT VS. CONGRESS: PRAYER, BUSSING, AND ABORTION (Duke University Press, 1989).
Reviews the laws and legislation regarding prayer in public schools.
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