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Schempp's Speak Out
Mr and Mrs Schempp sue the Board of Education on grounds that Bible readings violate their first and 14th amendment rights.
(http://access.newspaperarchive.com/us/pennsylvania/gettysburg/gettysburg-times/1958/11-28/Unauthorised). -
Edward Schempp Files Suit
Edward Schempp files suit in District Court to prohibit the enforcement of the law that requires the hearing and reading of the Bible as part of his children’s public school education.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abington_School_District_v._Schempp). -
Schempp and Children Testify
Edward Schempp and his children testified in the first district court trial that specific religious teachings purveyed by a literal reading of the bible “were contrary to the religious beliefs which they held and to their family teaching.”
(https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1884504/schempp-v-school-district-of-abington-township-pa/). -
Court Ruled in Schempp's Favor, Abington Appealed
District Court ruled in Schempp's favor, Pennsylvania statute struck down. School district appealed ruling, and the law was amended while the appeal was being processed.
(http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/609385). -
Schempp's React
Edward Schempp said that the amendment to the law was still a form of compulsion. Schempp said that “Any child who left class during the Bible readings would be made to look like some sort of odd-ball in the eyes of his fellow pupils.”
(http://access.newspaperarchive.com/us/pennsylvania/uniontown/uniontown-evening-standard/1960/10-26/page-11?tag=abington+v+schempp&rtserp=tags/abington-v-schempp?ndt=by&py=1960&pey=1969&ndt=ex&py=1960). -
Schempp's React
Edward Schempp said that the bible readings make school children a “captive audience which hears passages from the Bible out of context,” and such reading might help “plant the seeds of bigotry, hate, and intolerance.”
(http://access.newspaperarchive.com/us/pennsylvania/clearfield/clearfield-progress/1962/02-05/page-8?tag=abington+school+district+v+schempp&rtserp=tags/abington-school-district-v-schempp?page=1&ndt=by&py=1960&pey=1969). -
Supreme Court Decision
Supreme Court upholds district court decision, noting and restating the Supreme Court’s incorporation of the establishment in Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940)
(http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/609385). -
Justice Brennan's Concurrence
Justice William Brennan filed a lengthy and historically signifiant concurrence, expressing a course for future church-state related cases.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abington_School_District_v._Schempp#Decision).
