By Jack Wilkie
Last month we looked at some court decisions that have helped the effort to remove God and add evolutionary teaching to the schools. The famous Scopes Monkey Trial, although ineffective at the time, resulted in the evolution in schools debate being opened up. Everson v. Board of Education was influential because it set the stage for the courts (including those on the federal level) to rule in matters of religion and education. Once they assumed that power, they put it to use as often as they could to remove God from the classroom. Here are some of the major decisions and what they mean for the schools.
McCullom v. Board of Education, Dist. 71 (1948) – Religious classes offered by Protestants, Catholics, and Jews in Champaign, Illinois public schools were ruled unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court after an atheist woman protested. Although the classes were voluntary, she claimed her son felt pressured to attend. The county court and Illinois Supreme Court sided with the school district, but the Supreme Court overruled them 8-1, again confirming the Everson decision’s point that the federal government could now intervene in states’ religious and educational affairs.
Engel v. Vitale (1962) – New York public schools had penned a simple prayer for recitation each morning with student participation optional. The prayer was brief––“Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country. Amen.” As harmless as it seems, this prayer offended some families because it contradicted their beliefs. The New York Court of Appeals upheld the legality of the daily prayer, but the U.S. Supreme Court again overruled a state to make school-led prayer illegal. (An interesting fact: the anti-Biblical majority opinions in all three of the Everson, McCullom, and Engel cases were penned by the same man––Justice Hugo Black.)
Abington School District v. Schempp/Murray v. Curlette (1963) – Much like the other cases, multiple states had a law on the books regarding a religious practice. This time it was the reading of the Bible. Pennsylvania law mandated the reading of at least ten verses from the Scriptures each morning. Edward Schempp, a parent, didn’t want his children to participate in the reading or hear the verses that were read, so he filed a lawsuit. The district court sided with him and struck down the mandatory Scripture reading, but the Pennsylvania legislature amended the law to allow a parentally-approved opt-out of Bible reading for students who were opposed. Schempp further appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court where it was heard alongside a similar case involving the more well known atheist Madelyn Murray O’Hair. As expected, the Supreme Court again stood for the “separation of church and state” and ruled in favor of Schempp. Once prayer, (Bible-based) religious teaching, and Bible reading were banned, the Biblical worldview’s days in the American public school system were effectively over.
Reed v. van Hoven (1965) – Here it was decided that it is unconstitutional for a student to say a prayer aloud over his lunch while in a state school building.
Stone v. Graham (1980) – The Ten Commandments were no longer allowed to be posted on the walls of public school classrooms.
McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education (1981) and Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) – In the McLean case a U.S. District Court judge ruled that creation science could not be taught alongside evolution in science classes because it is religion and not science. In Edwards the teaching of creationism was ruled unconstitutional because it supports a set of religious beliefs. While it is encouraging that efforts have been made and are still being made today, it has become rather clear that once evolution got a foot in the door with the courts, it will not be stopped in the public schools.
What do we learn from all of these court decisions? We learn that God is not allowed in the classrooms of government schools because the wall of separation between church and state must be maintained. Public prayer, whether led by school employees or students, is not allowed. The teaching of the Bible (or even its principles) is not allowed. The reading of Scripture is not allowed. What we’ve looked at here are just a small number of the examples we could use to show how far the courts have gone to dismiss God and defend secular humanism at all costs. Yes, there are some schools that find ways to circumvent these rulings, but the fact is that these rulings are now law. For over 300 years, the education system has been used to systematically remove God, and the results bear out the success of these efforts. Now more than ever, Christian parents need to be aware of the dangers their children face in a thirteen year program that some are using to tear down the foundations of faith in young people.
