Courthouse 1850's,
Salisbury, N.C.
Photo Credit: Tamara Dennis
Through the years the public has taken the meaning of James Madison’s words and tried to incorporate personal views to accommodate one’s religious beliefs. As a result these personal views were unsettled and the court system was summoned to settle the grievances. In 1947 Everson v. Board of Education took their case to the Supreme Court in regards to an economical position that a New Jersey law permitting monetary reimbursements to households where children were being taken by the public transportation system to attend school. The question before the Supreme Court to be answered was: Did New Jersey violate the Establishment Clause through the Fourteenth Amendment? The Supreme Court ruled no and conveyed that it simply was a law to aid assistance to households of all religions in transporting their children to school. In 1948 Champaign Council made up of Jewish, Roman Catholic, and some Protestant faiths offered public school students voluntary courses in religious instruction. While the courses were taught in the regular classrooms, students who did not wish to take part in the religious instruction were allowed to continue their studies in another part of the school. The Supreme Court ruled that religious instruction in the public schools was a violation of the establishment clause and unconstitutional. This ruling went down in history as the McCollum v. Board of Education.
Engel v. Vitale in 1962 questioned the Board of Regents from the State of New York opposing the recitation of a voluntary prayer at the beginning of the school day. The prayer read as follows: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and beg Thy blessings upon us, our teachers, and our country." (The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, 2012) The ruling found that the Board of Regents did in fact violate the First Amendment establishment of religion clause by claiming that New York endorsed religion in the schools by providing prayer.
Everson v. Board of Education and Engel v. Vitale are only two of many judgments that have been handed down regarding religion and public school systems. Other landmark cases have made headline news and have been documented accordingly. Yet, despite the test of time, the controversy along with public opinion on religious views may very well continue to be an issue for the United States Supreme Court to rule on.