Government, Religion and Public Schools

Paper Summary:

The paper quotes the first and fourteenth amendments of the US Constitution upon which the church vs. state disputes are based and refers to several famous cases on this issue. The paper shows how schools cannot create an environment whereby the idea of a "God" exists, while students must also exhibit some control over the exercise of their religious freedom within the public school. The paper looks at the dangerous waters of "silent prayer" statutes and how teachers cannot proselytize, lecture about religion as an endorsement of religion, and cannot ask students to pray. The paper then relates that teachers can talk about Christmas and religion in public schools as long as the instruction is objective, inclusive, and balanced, but this may well be an almost impossible goal to achieve. The paper concludes that since countless humans are being killed daily in the name of religion, perhaps Thomas Jefferson and our Founding Fathers were right to insist on the separation of church and state, no matter what the cost.

Outline:
Introduction
Constitutional Framework
Defining the Constitutional Wall: School-Sponsored vs Private Devotionals & the Pledge
Students' Rights and Restrictions
Silent Prayer Statutes
Proselytization in the Classroom
The Tension Between Teachers' Rights and Restrictions
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Public education has evolved just as other societal practices and government agencies do over time, changing with the creation, interpretation, and revision of laws. The history of education is littered with religious teaching and observances yet in todays modern world, the times or school policies are changing. Efforts to identify the appropriate relationship between government and religion have generated substantial controversy in our nation, and since the mid-twentieth century, schools have provided the battleground for some of the most volatile disputes (Cambron-McCabe, McCarthy, Thomas, 2004, p. 25). The struggle to balance freedom of religion and state sponsored proselytization continues today with lower courts often at odds with each other on where to draw the line."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cambron-McCabe, N., McCarthy, M., & Thomas, S. (2004). Public school law: Teachers' and students' rights (fifth ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
• U.S. Constitution, The First Amendment
• U.S. Constitution, The Fourteenth Amendment
• Freedom Forum First Amendment Center, A parent's guide, (1999).
• Everson v. Board of Education, 330 US 1 (1947).

More papers on Government, Religion and Public Schools:

• Argumentative Essay # 58529 : "The Case against God in American Public Schools"
• Argumentative Essay # 100597 : "Prayer in Public Schools"
• Argumentative Essay # 51362 : "Separation of Church and State"

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