Engle v. Vitale – 1962

Religious Freedom

Enough of this Freedom of Religion Crap - YouTube

Is religion more unifying or divisive in American society?

Separation of Church & State

• “a wall of separation between church and state.” – TJ

• What does this mean?

1) Solid Wall of Separation• Prohibits all forms of

public aid for or support of religion

2) The “wall” forbids the favoring by the state of one religion over another…not nondiscriminatory support/aid for all

religions

3) The “wall” only prohibits the establishment of a national religion

Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)1. Is this establishment of

religion?

2. What is the reasoning behind your decision?

• Pennsylvania law that authorized Kurtzman (superintendent) to purchase secular educational services from nonpublic schools.

• Kurtzman would use state levied taxes to reimburse nonpublic schools for expenses incurred for teachers’ salaries, textbooks, and instructional materials

• Secular purposes only

Establishment Clause: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of

religion”

• Lemon Test:• 1) Purpose• 2) Promotion• 3) Excessive

entanglement ($)

• Your assignment...--you are assigned to one of five groups of cases regarding establishment of religion--w/ your group

a. read about each caseb. discuss w/ your groupc. apply the Lemon Testd. predict how the SC will decidee. present each case to the class and poll the class regarding their opinion

Establishment Clause: Cases

• Group #1: Aid to religious schools– Lemon v. Kurtzman

(1971)– Everson v. Board of

Education (1947)– Zelman v. Simmons-

Harris (2002)

Establishment Clause: Cases

• Group #2—Public School facilities and funds– Widmar v. Vincent

(1981)– Rosenberger v. U. of

Virginia (1995)

Establishment Clause: Cases

• Group #3—Religion in public schools– Epperson v. Arkansas

(1968)– Edwards v. Aguillard

(1987)

Establishment Clause: Cases

• Group #4—Holiday Displays– Lynch v. Donelly (1984)– County of Allegheny v.

ACLU (1989)– Jon Stewart--The War on

Christmas

Establishment Clause: Cases

• Group #5—Prayer in public schools– Engle v. Vitale (1962)– School District of

Abington Township v. Schempp (1963)

– Wallace v. Jaffree (1985)– Santa Fe School District

v. Doe

Free Exercise Clause: “…or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

Mass. V. David & Ginger Twitchell (1990)

Case #1: WV State Board of Ed v. Barnette (1943)

Case #2: Welsh v. United States (1970)

Case #3: State of Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)

Case #4: Oregon Employment Division v.

Smith (1990)

Case #5: Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. Hialeah

(1993)

Standards: How does the court decide/what criteria

do they use?Courts have been inconsistent in their rulings…

1) Sherbert-Yoder Test=less restrictive on free exercise

2) Smith Test=more restrictive on free exercise

1) Legitimacy

2) Balance: state must demonstrate a ‘compelling governmental interest’

3) Compromise – “least restrictive means”

4) Targeting – no “ex post facto” laws targeting religious practices