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Establishment Clause Test Case Study

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The Court has, in previous cases, established three separate tests for determining violations of the Establishment Clause. The Petitioners, in the present case, offer sufficient –though not outstanding – evidence to comply with the requirements of each.

The Lemon Test exists as a three-pronged test: 1) Does the challenged action have a secular purpose; 2) Does the challenged action remain neutral (neither advances nor inhibits a religion); 3) Does the challenged action avoid excessive entanglement between governmental institutions and religious institutions. Lemon v. Kurtzman, [403 U.S. 602, 91 S.C.T. 2105 (1971)]. The California statute under duress from both this Court and the Respondent complies with each prong. The California statute …show more content…

This test observes two separate prongs: 1) Does the action provide direct aid to a religion in such a manner as to establish it as a state religion; 2) Does the action coerce people to support or participate in the religious practices against their own free will. County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union, Greater Pittsburgh Chapter, [492 U.S. 573, (1998)]. Dissecting the first prong offers no evidence to suggest that the test is failed; in no direct way is a religion aided with the addition of “Under God” in the Pledge. Due to the recitation of the Pledge being labeled as voluntary, the second prong also remains …show more content…

This feeds into the first question regarding artificial and natural coercion. Justice Kennedy wrote: “government may not coerce anyone to support or participate in any religion or its exercise.” County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union, Greater Pittsburgh Chapter, [492 U.S. 573, (1998)]. Governmental coercion would constitute a source of artificial coercion whereby the government directly intervenes; however, there exists a natural coercive force simply through the presence of an authority figure – the classroom teacher in the case at hand. Despite the recitation of the Pledge being voluntary, can it truly be considered voluntary when Milgram’s experiment is

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The supreme court case of Trinity Lutheran Church vs. Comer, is a case in which the supreme court of the United States of America held a Missouri Program that denied funding to religious groups that would be used for profane purposes, that is provided to non-religious groups violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of religion. “The Trinity Lutheran Church Child Learning Center is a Missouri preschool and daycare center. Originally established as a nonprofit organization, the Center later merged with Trinity Lutheran Church and now operates under its auspices on church property.” The Trinity Lutheran v. Comer case finds that governments can not discriminate against churches that would otherwise qualify for funding just because

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McCreary v. ACLU of Kentucky (2005) was a case that was presented to the supreme court. The issue at hand was that two Kentucky county courthouses displayed the 10 commandments publicly. As a result, the American Civil Liberties Union argued that this religious display violated the first 10 amendments of the Establishment Clause and sued the counties. After that, the courthouse continued to post not one but two displays alongside with the 10 commandments relating to their reasoning assuring the citizens to be on the same page with them. Which according to law, the government must not in any way favor one religion over another, moreover in this case the displays clearly violated the Establishment Clause because they were presented with texts-scriptures from the Bible involving in a particular promotion of Christian religion.

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In discussing freedom of religion in this case, the key principles at odds are free exercise clause versus the establishment clause. In determining, the establishment clause one needs to consider both the participants and location of

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The issue in this case was whether school-sponsored nondenominational prayer in public schools violates the Establishment clause of the first amendment (Facts and Case Summary - Engel v. Vitale, n.d.). This case dealt with a New York state law that had required public schools to open each day with the Pledge of Allegiance and a nondenominational prayer in which the students recognized their dependence upon God (Facts and Case Summary - Engel v. Vitale, n.d.). This law had also allowed students to absent themselves from this activity if they found that it was objectionable. There was a parent that sued the school on behalf of their child. Their argument was that the law violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, as made applicable

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The Endorsement Test teststates that government may not, even unintentionally, “send the message” that a citizen is favored or disfavored based on their religious affiliation or adherence or non-adherence to religion. Following this logic, Hassan believes that the NYPD’s surveillance program is “sending the message” that any citizen practicing Islam is automatically disfavored in the eyes of the NYPD. However, the NYPD’s case against this Establishment Clause violation draws again from the Handschu Decree from 1985, the idea that the executive branches of government like the mayoral office is responsible for recognizing the government’s attempt to endorse religion or be hostile to it and as stated before, the actions of the NYPD, unless mentioned otherwise by the executive branches of government, are well-within their constitutional limits and thus, the actions of the NYPD are valid until called-out by the executive branches of government. Lastly, the free exercise claims brought by both the NYPD and Hassan draw from the two important free exercise cases, Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah (1993) and Sherbert v. Verner (1963).

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“Faith and the Presidency: From George Washington to George W. Bush” was written by Gary Scott Smith, the book goes in depth about how presidencies brought religion to America and its government. This book was written to be read by students and scholars looking to further their knowledge about the presidents’ religious views and how they used their views in office. Gary Scott Smith is currently the chair and professor of history at Grove City College, were he graduated from in 1972 with a bachelor’s in art in Psychology. He also has his master’s in art in American History from John Hopkins which he received in 1979. In 1981 he received his Ph. D in American History from John Hopkins as well (Faculty, par.1).

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“Liberty which is essential to its existence, the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.” One of the many issues is the ability that religion

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In this light, the magistrate judge dismissed Newdow’s complaint. Upon this ruling, the case was taken to the Ninth Circuit which was superior to the district court. The circuit affirmed Newdow’s claims and held that as a parent he merited to challenge the school’s practice of the pledge because it interfered with his right and authority to guide the religious education his daughter obtained. The court maintained that Newdow, being the father to the child had the full rights to expose his daughter to his own religious beliefs even if they contradicted that of the mother and he even qualified to seek redress for the injury of his parental interests. The Ninth Circuit Appellate Court further held that the policy of the district school was unconstitutional because it violated the Establishment Clause.

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Though prayer can seem innocent enough, Smiths’ action of praying while performing the duty of a judge violates the establishment clause; seeing how Roger Robber is being subjected to Smiths’ beliefs. As made evident in the 1992 decision in the case of Lee v. Weisman, public schools, which function under the supervision of the government, cannot perform religious invocations and benedictions during a graduation, as doing so violates the establishment clause. A public school sponsoring a prayer at a graduation is considered “excessive government entanglement” when the objective is to create a prayer that is to be used in a formal religious exercise, which students, for all practical purposes are obliged to attend, resulting in a violation of the establishment clause. Going back to Smith, his inclusion of prayers while serving the government shows that there is no separation between church and state. This is a clear violation, seeing how Robber is placed in a highly religious environment, meaning that religious beliefs are likely to take the place of the law and completely disregarding the

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“The Pledge Of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Ballamy, an author, Baptist minister, and socialist. He was assigned to come up with something patriotic that school children could recite”. - Simon Brown. Since the existence or creation of The Pledge Of Allegiance, there have been many debates and controversy surrounding it. A lot of people oppose to the daily recital of The Pledge, while other’s are supporting and in favor of The Pledge being recited daily in school’s.

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A group of parents and students challenged the New York State Board of Regents mandatory non-denominational prayer in school. A parent sued the school, arguing that law had violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Engel claimed that the prayer violated the 1st amendment, freedom of religion. Plaintiff being Steven I. Engel, defendant as William J. Vitale. This was located at Herricks School District argued on April 3, 1962.

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Introduction In 1962, a short, voluntary prayer at the start of each school day was authorized the Board of Regents for the State of New York. Each public school was required to open the day with a nondenominational prayer, forcing the students to recognize Christianity as their religion, unless the they decided to excuse themselves from this activity. Steven Engel, a parent of a student in Herricks School District, sued on behalf of his child, stating that the law requiring a nondenominational prayer violated the Establishment Cause of the First Amendment. Legal Arguments Engel argued that the separation of church and state was not upheld with the New York law, since it required public schools to say a nondenominational prayer each day.

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The words “under God” endorse religion, and imposing a religious belief onto those who don’t share it contradicts the inalienable right promised by the Bill of Rights. The first amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” While the pledge is not a law, it has been formally adopted by Congress. Some claim that the phrase “under God” is nondenominational as it is a general reference and does not specify a particular “god,” however the phrase does specify that there is only one god, and therefore is not truly all-inclusive. Douglas Laycock, JD, argues that “We can’t have a nation under God unless there is a God.

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“Religious liberty might be supposed to mean that everybody is free to discuss religion. In practice, it means that hardly anybody is allowed to mention it.” ― G.K. Chesterton Many occasions in the United States history have shown that religion has caused many controversial questions. These questions have brought the American Justice System to a running halt, leading society to begin to ponder about the importance of freedom of religion, true meanings of the free exercise and establishment clause, and if there should be limitations imposed on the free exercise of one’s religious beliefs.

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