Analyzing a
Court Decision
An overview of Textbooks, Distribution
of Religious Literature,
Religious Instruction, Religious
Holidays
presented by Bart Fennemore
Textbooks
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Case: Smith v. Board of School Commissioners of
Mobile County
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Facts:
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Accusation that several "textbooks promoted secular
humanism by excluding facts about religion and by failing
to present a biblically based or divine framework for
decision making.“
The textbooks were deemed neutral to theistic religion,
neither supporting nor discrediting it.
Point made that "many of the books specifically
acknowledge that religion is one source of moral values."
Textbooks
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Case: Mozert v. Hawkins County Board of Education
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Facts:
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Objection to the use of a specific publisher's reading
curriculum because one story's theme was mental
telepathy.
Court case focused on the option to opt-out of the reading
program rather than the specific curriculum cited.
Court found that the opt-out option could be abused to an
extent that would make administration of schooling for all
students too difficult and therefore should not be
supported by law.
Textbooks
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Case: Roberts v. Madigan
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Facts:
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Elementary teacher not allowed to have the Bible in his
classroom library.
Personal Bible of teacher was to remain out of student sight
and not to be read during classroom hours.
Distribution of Religious
Literature
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Case: Tudor v. Board of Education of Borough of Rutherford
Court: 100 A.2d 857
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Case: Muller v. Jefferson Lighthouse School
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
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Gideons’ distribution of Bible held in violation of Establishment Clause
Distribution of religious materials is allowed but required prior approval from school.
Distribution must be allowed to all religious affiliations.
Case: Peck v. Upshur County Board of Education
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
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Limited and passive distribution of religious materials allowed during
school hours.
Restrictions include:
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Private groups are responsible for display set-up and removal.
No employees of the school are permitted to participate.
Location of displays are not permitted to induce pressure on students to take
material.
Source of the materials is not to be identified.
No one is allowed to stand at the display to encourage the taking of materials
nor can there be any sort of public announcement as to the availability of the
materials.
Distribution of Religious
Literature
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Case: Bacon v. Bradley-Bourbonnais High School
District
Court: 707 F. Supp. 1005
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Sidewalks are public forums by virtue of their unrestricted
use.
Religious materials are allowed to be distributed.
Case: Ruck v. Crestview Local Schools
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
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Nonprofit groups that serve children are allowed to
distribute flyers as doing so does not endorse religion.
Religious Instruction
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Case: McCollum v. Board of Education of School District No. 71
Court: Supreme Court | 333 U.S. 203
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Case: Zorach v. Clauson
Court: Supreme Court | 343 U.S. 306
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Teaching religous classes in public school during normal hours of school violates the
First Amendment's separation of church and state.
Students are allowed to be released during school hours to attend religious classes off
campus. (Released-time)
Case: Pierce v. Sullivan West Central School District
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
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It was alleged that students who did not participate in off-campus religious studies
were left with nothing to do during compulsory time, instructors were left without
guidance for the time.
The policy was alleged to violate the Establishment Clause by conveying a message of
endorsement of religion through is discrimination of non-participants.
The policy/program was found to not violate the law as it used no public funds and was
purely voluntary.
Religious Instruction
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Case: Lanner v. Wimmer
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
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Case: Snyder v. Charlotte Public School District
Court: 365 N.W.2d 151 (Supreme Court of Michigan)
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Academic credit could not be given for released-time Old Testament/New
Testament courses taught by LDS.
Credit could, however, be used for attendance, "eligibility for extracurricular
activities, and state-funding purposes."
Nonessential elective courses must be open to all nonpublic school students.
Case: Wiley v. Franklin
Court: 474 F. Supp. 525
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Religious courses can be offered in public schools provided: *they are
"secular in nature, intent, and purpose." *they neither advance nor inhibit
religion. *they do not become an excessive entanglement between
government and religion.
Religious Instruction
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Case: Malnak v. Yogi
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
 A course taught was ruled to constitute the establishment of
religion.
Case: Doe v. Porter
Court: 88 F. Supp.2s 904
 A Bible course was ruled to be an excessive entanglement of
government and religion.
Religious Holidays
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Case: Metzl v. Leininger
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
 Good Friday ruled to have no secular value and therefore
conveyed a message of a favored religion.
Case: Koenick v. Felton
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
 Maryland created a weekend holiday from the Friday before
Easter to the Monday after Easter which was lawful as it did not
violate the Establishment Clause.
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The holiday was for all without preference toward religious affiliation.
The holiday created had been observed in the school calendar for 130
years.
Commercially available dates were consulted to determine the
Friday-Monday time period each year.