You Decide Exercise

School Prayer & The Pledge of Allegiance

This exercise relates to chapter 2’s policy debate on religious freedom and school prayer. The goal of this exercise is to give you a better understanding of how the courts have interpreted the constitution’s religious clauses in school prayer cases. Specifically, the assignment addresses the current controversy over the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. You will read some history of the issue and then predict the outcome of a future Supreme Court decision on the wording of the Pledge.

Take the Freedom of Religion Quiz:
http://www.pbs.org/now/quiz/quiz2.html

1. Based on the website and the text, differentiate between students praying in school privately (in the cafeteria, for example) and students using the school’s Public Address system to broadcast their prayers to others (at a football game, for example). Why is one constitutional and the other not?

2. Under what conditions can government display religious symbols, such as a menorah?

3. Why do you think the Court has come down so hard on prayer in public school when it does not limit religion in other aspects of daily life (such as on our currency)?

In 1954, in response to the threat of godless communists, the US added the words “under God” to the pledge of allegiance.  When President Eisenhower signed the law, he stated that henceforth, “our nation’s schoolchildren would proclaim the dedication of our nation and our people to the almighty.” Read the timeline of the pledge’s history at http://www.pbs.org/now/society/religionstats2.html. The Supreme Court ducked the issue in its June 2004 ruling, but this issue will come again before the Court before long). For more on this, listen to http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1957681 .

4. Based on what you’ve read, can schools require students to repeat or listen to the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance? Does it pass muster regarding separation of church and state?

Email your answers to your professor