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Tag: Religion in schools

The Bible Riots

The Bible Riots

This is the image used on the cover of Sacred Liberty. This illustration depicts what were called “the Bible Riots,” which took place in 1834 in Philadelphia and killed 30 people. These days we tend to think of religion-in-schools fights being about believers vs. secularists. But for most of our history it was a fight between Protestants and Catholics. In Philadelphia, Protestants insisted that school children read from the King James Version – which Catholic families viewed as the wrong…

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Engel v. Vitale Majority Opinion

Engel v. Vitale Majority Opinion

U. S. Supreme Court 1962 The plaintiffs in Engel v. Vitale—three Jews and two “spiritual” people who did not belong to an organized religion—objected to their children having to recite prayers that had been written and required by the State of New YTork. The Court agreed 6 to 1, with three Republican- appointed justices joining three appointed by Democrats. The majority opinion was offered by Justice Hugo Black The respondent Board of Education of Union Free School District No. 9,…

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Everson v. Board of Education of the Township of Ewing

Everson v. Board of Education of the Township of Ewing

U.S. Supreme Court 1947 In Everson, the Court focused on the meaning of the Establishment Clause. Did that cryptic phrase intend merely to block the establishment of a state religion? Or did it prohibit taxpayer support for religion more generally? The Court disagreed with a New Jersey taxpayer who objected that his tax dollars were being used to subsidize the transportation of students to parochial schools. But it offered a set of guidelines and then these controversial words: “In the…

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Seventh Annual Report of the Board of Education by Horace Mann

Seventh Annual Report of the Board of Education by Horace Mann

Horace Mann 1844 Education reformer Horace Mann argued that the Bible by itself—when presented without commentary—was pure and universal, making “the perfect example of Jesus Christ” lovely in their eyes. But he opposed Catholic proposals to allow both Protestant and Catholic translations of the Bible to be taught. Here he explains why: And by allowing and enforcing two different religions, the government proclaims its own absurdity, for both cannot be right. Two opposites may both be wrong, but, while truth…

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