Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963)

Facts:
Pennsylvania state law required that "at least ten verses from the Holy Bible shall be read, without comment, at the opening of each public school on each school day." Two families sued, claiming this violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Issue:
Whether an official reading at the beginning of each school day of Bible passages, without further comment, violates the Establishment Clause.

Holding:
By a vote of 8-1, the Court held that state-sponsored devotional Bible readings in public schools constitute an impermissible religious exercise by government.

Reasoning:
The Court found that state-sponsored devotional exercises violate the Establishment Clause. The Constitutional defects are not corrected by allowing an opt-out provision. The Establishment Clause constrains government from involving itself in religious matters. Therefore, government action that promotes or inhibits religion violates the Constitution. The state may not draft or conduct religious prayers in schools filled with captive audiences of children.

Majority:
"In addition, it might well be said that one’s education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization. It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected [sic] consistently with the First Amendment. But the exercises here do not fall into those categories. They are religious exercises, required by the States in violation of the command of the First Amendment that the Government maintain strict neutrality, neither aiding nor opposing religion." (Justice Tom Clark)

Last updated: Monday, September 6, 2010 | 12:26:48