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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 5 page paper examines court cases dealing with church and state issues as they relate to public schools. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVPubSep.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
be biased against those who do not share the same religion as the majority. This thinking also impacts the public schools, which generally do not permit religious symbols or activities
on campus. In some cases, however, the courts have ruled that religious clubs and meetings can be held on school grounds. This paper discusses several decisions that have been made
with regard to this issue. Discussion A search for "public schools" +"church and state" + "court cases" has brought up a number of decisions in this area; several turn up
repeatedly. Well take three at random, starting with Widmar v. Vincent, 454 U.S. 263 (1981). The facts of Widmar are these: the University of Missouri at Kansas City "ruled that
its facilities could not be used by student groups for purposes of religious worship or religious teaching" (Widmar v. Vincent, 1981). The university believed it was acting correctly under the
Establishment Clause of the Constitution (Widmar v. Vincent, 1981). (The "Establishment Clause" is the one that says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof" (Introduction to the Establishment Clause). Like almost all of the provisions of the Constitution, this one is open to many interpretations, and is at the heart of
many lawsuits and debates. In Widmar, the school obviously interpreted the clause to mean that religious activities should be kept off the campus. Trouble arose when a "student religious
group that had previously been permitted to use the facilities sued the school after being informed of the change in policy" (Widmar v. Vincent, 1981). The group said that they
were being denied their First Amendment rights "to religious free exercise and free speech" (Widmar v. Vincent, 1981). The court (this went to the Supreme Court) ruled that "the Establishment
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