Chapter 3
 First Amendment – “Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof.
 Establishment Clause – requires neutrality from
government(state, school, and school boards) and
prohibits public school advancements of religion.
 Free Exercise Clause – prohibits school officials from
interfering with religious expression.
 The crux of the problem lies in balancing the two.
Public Schools and Religion
 Lemon v Kurtzman – pg 41
 Three-prong test
Have a secular purpose
2. Neither advance nor inhibit religion
3. Not cause excessive entanglement between
government and religion
1.
 Equal Access Act – applies only to public secondary
schools that allow noncurricular clubs to meet outside
of the school day or during other noninstructional
time. Allows clubs to be formed as long as:
- The meeting is voluntary and student-initiated
- Teachers or other school employees do not sponsor
the group
- School employees do not promote, lead, or
participate in a meeting
School employees are present at religious meetings only
in a supervisory or nonparticipatory capacity
- The meeting does not materially and substantially
interfere with the orderly conduct of educational
activities within the school
- Nonschool persons may not direct, conduct, control,
or regularly attend activities of student groups
 Forum - simply a place and speech rights can be
determined by the nature of the place.
 Schools – closed forum or limited open forum.
 Viewpoint Discrimination – Donavan v. Punxsutawney
 Facilities and Equal Access
 Student challenges to Equal Access
 Boy Scouts of America Act
The Law and Curriculum
 Abington v. Schempp – The Supreme Court made it
clear that study about religion, as distinguished from
espousing or sponsoring religious expression, is
constitutional.
 Epperson v. Arkansas – The Supreme Court invalidated
a law that forbade the teaching of evolution.
 Edwards v. Aguillard – Court ruled that the
Creationism Act which required the teaching of
creationism with evolution was unconstitutional.
 Settle v. Dickson County School Board
 Displays and holidays
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- Any religious displays are suspect
- Students should not be required to participate in any
school activity that may be offensive to their religious
beliefs.
State-Sponsored Religious Activities
Pledge of Allegiance
Murals, Signs, and Other School-Sponsored Speech
Students and Religious Expression
 Student Prayer and Extracurricular Events
 Student-Led Prayers at Graduation
 Employees and Religious Expression