Separation Of Church And State - 1095 Words

The separation of church and state has been encountered and challenged several times in the Supreme Court, which was first mentioned by Thomas Jefferson. However it is not solidly stated in the Constitution on what is right or wrong and good or bad. This theory was modified from various elements from the Constitution essentially the first and fourteenth amendments. In the first amendment it is written Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.. Notice the phrase separation of church and state does not appear in the First Amendment. This amendment guarantees citizens the right to worship and or believe any religion they prefer! Many citizens obviously feel a strong†¦show more content†¦America s structure is established upon the concept that religion should be a freedom of choice of an individual without the concern of the government, yet religion was the least flaws the nation was founded on. During the develo pment over hundred of years, America s opinion was occupied on one s religious belief. This controversy enhanced in public schools across the country. The court case that brought about this action was Engel v. Vitale. This court case dealt with school prayers. Supreme Court ruled Engel v, Vitale on Juner 1962 that prayer in public schools violated the U.S Constitution s first amendment prohibition of a state establishment of religion. N.Y State s Board of Regents documented a daily prayer that was recited by students at the beginning of class. A group of parents disapproved of this and sued the school board of president. Justice Hugo Black argument by explaining how the recitation of the Regent s Prayer were an unconstitutional violation of the Establishment Clause. The Court rejected the defendant s argument that prayer is free and promotes religious unity. Although many people were angry about the verdict, this case impacted public schools by prohibiting schools from writing or ch oosing a specific prayer requiring students to practice it. The morning of September 24th called upon the Supreme Court to overrule a federal claim court decision that the New York City public school administration could, if it