Separation of Church and State

By ethanlind

  • Official Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving

    The House of Representatives, with only two dissenting votes, passes a resolution calling for an official day of prayer and thanksgiving.

  • The First Amendment

    The First Amendment which ratified in 1791 states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

  • The Treaty of Tripoli

    The Treaty of Tripoli, negotiated under the administration of President George Washington, is ratified by the Senate. The treaty, in pledging American friendship with the Muslim nation, explicitly declares that "the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

  • Reynolds v. United States

    The Supreme Court rules that George Reynolds’s religious "duties" do not protect him from prosecution under federal anti-polygamy laws. He claimed that since his Mormon religion sanctioned polygamy, the First Amendment shielded him from prosecution. The Court held that while his right to religious belief is absolute,
    government has a responsibility to curb religious practices that conflict with interests of the community. Polygamy is an indefensible religious practice and his conviction stands.

  • Zorach v. Clausen

    The Supreme Court ruled that New York’s "released time" program, which allows public school students to leave school early in order to attend religion classes, is permissible because the religious instruction takes place off school grounds. In an earlier case, McCollum v. Board of Education, the Court had ruled an Illinois released time program unconstitutional because the religious instruction occurred on public school grounds.

  • Engel v. Vitale

    This landmark Supreme Court Case ruled that prayer in school was in violation of the First Amendment

  • Mitchell v. Helms

    In Mitchell v. Helms, the United States Supreme Court affirms the constitutionality of a Louisiana state program that provides books, computers, lab equipment, televisions, and video tape recorders to religious schools, thus broadening the range of permissible state assistance to religious schools.

  • Kitzmiller v. Dover

    In Kitzmiller v. Dover, a United States District Court rules that a Pennsylvania school district’s "intelligent design policy" violates the First Amendment. Under this policy, district teachers are required to inform students of the "gaps/problems in Darwin's Theory," and they are required to introduce "other theories of evolution including, but not limited to, intelligent design."