A school board in New York
passed a rule that each school day was to start with the students all
reciting a school prayer.
The prayer said, "Almighty
God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings
upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country. Amen."
Several students and parents
sued, claiming that the forced speech was a violation of the Establishment
Clause of the 1st
Amendment.
The Trial Court found the
prayer constitutional. The parents appealed.
The Trial Court found that
the prayer was non-denominational and was not mandatory, so it wasn't a
violation of the Establishment Clause.
The Appellate Court affirmed.
The parents appealed.
The New York Supreme Court
affirmed. The parents appealed.
The US Supreme Court reversed,
and found the prayer to be unconstitutional.
The US Supreme Court found
that government-directed prayer in public schools, even if it is
denominationally neutral and non-mandatory, violates the Establishment
Clause.
The Court found that even
though the prayer was not mandatory, it was coercive, and that amounted
to a promotion of religion.
The Court found that even
though the prayer attempted to be non-denominational, it was specific to
monotheistic religions, and so was discriminatory.
In a dissent, it was argued
that a similar statement appears in the Pledge of Allegiance ("one
nation under God"), and on US money ("In God we trust"), so
how could this be a violation of the 1st Amendment when those aren't?
Conversely, in Marsh v.
Chamber (463 U.S. 783 (1983)), the US
Supreme Court found that it was not a violation of the Establishment
Clause to open sessions of the Nebraska State Legislature with
a prayer.
