um contained religion. During this period, their schools were not filled with Buddhist, Catholic, Muslim, or Taoist. Today public school districts are made up of many different types of people with many different religious beliefs. If a religion were brought into the classroom, it would build walls for children who are not aware of religious differences. Students that would not be forced to pray would feel singled out and discriminated against.
The Supreme Court formulated their decision to eliminate prayer reading as unconstitutional and in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment on three major challenges.
1) The first is the case of Engel v. Vitale (370 U.S. 421, No. 468, 1962) where the parents of ten students insisted " That the use of an official prayer in the public school was contrary to the beliefs, religions, or religious practices to both themselves and their children." It was also pointed out that students were to "voluntarily" recite the following prayer: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon thee, and we beg thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our country." Justice Black in delivering the courts opinion concurred that the "State of New York did violate the individual rights and breached the constitutional wall of separation between church and state by mandating the use of the Regents Prayer."
2) The second case involved the School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania v. Schempp (374 U.S. 203, No. 142, 1963) together with Murray ET AL. V. Curlet
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