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This letter was the origin of the phrase "wall of separation between Church and State"
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The birthday of scientist Charles Darwin (b. 1809)
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SCOTUS decision that religious practices which impair the public interest do not fall under the First Amendment's protection.
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Infamous case which upheld a Tennessee law forbidding the teaching of evolution in the classroom.
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The Supreme Court finds it is unconstitutional to require prayer in public school.
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awarding custody to mother, noting as factor in her favor that she often took children to church, while father rarely did, that “[t]his court has often noted the absence of any regular church attendance in the pre- sentence reports of those who have been convicted of some crime, which appear on our desk,” and that “a religious education and upbringing can have a substantial effect upon the outlook and attitudes of a child, and in turn upon the life of the adult he or she will become.”
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Alabama tried to reintroduce state-sponsored prayer into public school.
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The Supreme Court declares it to be illegal to have a purely religious display on government property.
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noting “that [father] has a greater capacity and willingness to continue to take the parties’ daughters to church and related activities,” and that trial court had been “concerned with [mother’s] belief that her minor daughters are capable of making their own decisions whether to attend church”
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noting that “[father] never attended church and his older children were not baptized,” that “[father] felt [the children] should experience many religions and choose one when they were older,” and that though “[mother] did not attend church regularly, she attended periodically and would take all of the children with her”
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Beggining of he athiest shoe study.