The School Prayer Amendment is a
proposed amendment to the
United States Constitution intended by its proponents to protect the right of the students if they wish, to voluntarily pray in schools, although opponents argue it allows for government sponsored prayer.
Background
In the cases ''
Engel v. Vitale'' (1962) and ''
Abington School District v. Schempp'' (1963), the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...
ruled that
government mandated school prayer is unconstitutional under the
Establishment Clause
In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The relevant constitutional tex ...
of the
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
. However voluntary prayer is not unconstitutional.
The history of school prayer amendment began in 1962 with the Supreme Court case of ''Engel v. Vitale''. A New York policy required schools to begin each day with a word of prayer. Regarding this case, Justice Hugo Black wrote "... the constitutional prohibition against laws respecting an establishment of religion must at least mean that in this country it is no part of the business of government to compose official prayers for any group of the American people to recite as a part of a religious program carried on by government."
The next year, a similar case arose: ''Abington Township School District v. Schempp''. The effect of this incident was the prohibition of school officials from organizing or leading prayers as well as devotional Bible reading in public schools. ''Abington v. Schempp'' required that school faculties should neither promote nor degrade religion. The Supreme Court next examined school prayer in 1985 with the case of ''
Wallace v. Jaffree''. A change to Alabama's moment-of-silence law included a requirement that the moment of silence must be for "meditation or voluntary prayer." The Court saw the change as government promotion of prayer in the schools, and overturned the change to the law. The justices explained that a moment of silence is appropriate, but not for any religious purpose.
Text
H. J. RES. 16
History
Democratic
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...
Robert Byrd
Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was an American politician and musician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A ...
of
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...
proposed the amendment in 1962, 1973, 1979, 1982, 1993, 1995, and 1997.
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported in July 1999 that the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
, at that time occupied by a Republican majority, had long been proposing such an amendment but was preoccupied with a competing, more general amendment allowing for "religious freedoms" proposed by
Henry Hyde
Henry John Hyde (April 18, 1924 – November 29, 2007) was an American politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 2007, representing the 6th District of Illinois, an area of Chicago ...
, then-Chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, ...
. Representative
Ernest Istook, a
Republican from
Oklahoma's 5th congressional district
Oklahoma's 5th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It borders all of the other congressional districts in the state except the 1st district. It is densely populated and covers almost all of Oklahom ...
, proposed the amendment on May 8, 1997.
In March 1998, the Judiciary Committee passed the bill by a 16–11 vote. On June 4, 1998, the full House voted on the amendment, 224–203 in favor.
The vote was 61 short of the two-thirds majority required by
Article Five of the United States Constitution
Article Five of the United States Constitution describes the process for altering the Constitution. Under Article Five, the process to alter the Constitution consists of proposing an amendment or amendments, and subsequent ratification.
Amendme ...
to propose a constitutional amendment.
Istook reintroduced the amendment to Congress twice: first in 1999 as the House Joint Resolution 66
and in 2001 as the "Religious Speech Amendment". Byrd proposed the amendment again on April 29, 2006.
Though the proposed amendment failed to be adopted, it led to the passing of the
Equal Access Act
The Equal Access Act is a United States federal law passed as Title VIII of the Education for Economic Security Act in 1984 to compel federally funded public secondary schools to provide equal access to extracurricular student clubs. Lobbied for ...
.
Rick Perry
James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 and as the 47th governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015. Perry also ran unsuccessfully for the Republi ...
, governor of
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
and Republican
a former candidate for the 2012 presidential election, said in an interview on ''
Fox News Sunday
''Fox News Sunday'' is a Sunday morning talk show that has aired on the broadcast Fox network since 1996, as a presentation of Fox News Channel. It is the only regularly scheduled Fox News program carried on the main Fox broadcast network. Ho ...
'' on December 11, 2011: "I would support a constitutional amendment that allows our children to pray in school anytime they would like."
Reception
The
Freedom From Religion Foundation
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) is an American nonprofit organization, which advocates for atheists, agnostics, and nontheists. Formed in 1976, FFRF promotes the separation of church and state, and challenges the legitimacy of man ...
,
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". ...
, and
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Americans United for Separation of Church and State (Americans United or AU for short) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that advocates for the disassociation of religion and religious organizations from government. The separation of church ...
have all expressed opposition to this amendment. The
Family Research Council
The Family Research Council (FRC) is an American evangelical activist group and think-tank with an affiliated lobbying organization. FRC promotes what it considers to be family values. It opposes and lobbies against: access to pornography, emb ...
has supported it.
Polls
In 1985, Poll found that 61% supported a School Prayer Amendment.
In 2005, a Gallup Poll found that 76% of Americans favor "a constitutional amendment".
[https://news.gallup.com/poll/18136/public-favors-voluntary-prayer-public-schools.aspx]
References
{{authority control
Proposed amendments to the United States Constitution
Religion and education
Religion and children
Prayer