Prayer During School
Prayer in school has always been a controversial topic. Throughout the last century, public schools have transitioned from mandatory bible readings to a prohibition on public prayer at the beginning of a graduation ceremony. In this article, I plan to cover a brief review of landmark cases, including TN law, and a summary of the current limitation of prayer in public schools.
The landmark decision concerning school prayer comes from the Engel v. Vitale[1]. In Engel, a group of Jewish parents disagreed with the daily recitation of prayer which had been adopted by the Board of Regents. On June 25th, 1962, in a 6-1 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that such endorsement of religion by the Board of Regents was a violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment thereby putting an end to public school's sanctions prayers and religious readings.
As most of you know this was not the end of prayer in school. However, the principles laid out in Engel were later expanded over time to restrict prayers during graduation[2] and at the beginning of high school athletic events[3]. In both instances, the Court focused on the fact that these were public events taking place on public property thereby leaving individuals who may disagree with the message with no option but to participate. Therefore, despite being "student-led" and "student-initiated", such practices were a violation of the establishment clause.
TN LAW FLASHBACK
Just 8 years before the Court's ruling in Engel, the TN Supreme Court had ruled in favor of prayer, reading of scripture, and "some" spiritual singing with the justification that in dealing with conflicts of life, public schools should not forget God.[4]
So one may ask, why are there still prayers at graduations? Schools, often motivated by the community they serve have found ways to around the aforementioned rulings. For example, the school may allow a student to give an "opening" or "closing" statement, by volunteer and so long as they do not have a policy or procedure to review the student's message then it may be held to be constitutional. However, if a school participates in the planning or provides say a student chaplain to offer the message, then that would likely be deemed unconstitutional.[5]
TN LAW TODAY
The Moment of Silence
On August 11th, 2009, T.C.A. § 49-6-1004 became effective which begin each day with a moment of silence to "prepare themselves for the activities of the day". Additionally, subsection (b) allows for teachers to participate voluntarily with students in prayer so long as they do not prescribe the content of the prayer.
[1] Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962).
[2] Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577 (1992).
[3] Santa Fe Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Doe, 530 U.S. 290, 316, (2000).
[4] Carden v. Bland, 288 S.W.2d 718, 725 (1956).
[5] Doe v. Gossage, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34613 (W.D. Ky 2006).