"In November 1951 the Board of Regents of New York proposed that public schools start the day with a non-denominational prayer. School boards were authorized, but not required, to adopt the recommendation."..
"It became known as The Regents' Prayer because it was written by the New York State Board of Regents. The prayer was 22 words"..
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
The proposal was adopted by the Herricks Union Free School District in July 1958. Students could opt-out with a parent's signature. 5 parents of public school students attending the school sued the school board president William J. Vitale Jr challenging its constitutionality..
Two of the plaintiffs were Jewish, one was an atheist, one was a Unitarian church member, and one was a member of the New York Society for Ethical Culture. Steven I. Engel, a Jewish man, became the named plaintiff.
"The plaintiffs argued that opening the school day with such a prayer violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as applied to the states through the 14th Amendment."
The governments of 22 states submitted an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court urging affirmance of the New York Court of Appeals decision that upheld the constitutionality of the prayer..
The American Jewish Committee, the Synagogue Council of America, and the American Ethical Union each submitted briefs urging the Court to instead reverse and rule that the prayer was unconstitutional...
x.com
x.com
"Writing for the majority, Justice Hugo Black wrote that recitation of a government-written prayer by school children was "a practice wholly inconsistent with the Establishment Clause""
x.com
x.com
"Engel has been the basis for several subsequent decisions limiting government-directed prayer in school..Lee v. Weisman was a basis for Santa Fe ISD v. Doe (2000), in which the Court extended the ban to school-organized student-led prayer at high school football games.."
A year after the 1962 ruling the Court decided in Abington School District v. Schempp that recitation of the Lord's Prayer and Bible reading in school were unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause.
"President John F. Kennedy reminded Americans that they can always pray at home: The nation’s first Catholic president supported the Engel ruling."
au.org
au.org
“Mr. Engel and his fellow plaintiffs made a principled and courageous stand against state-sponsored religion in the public schools,” said Donna Lieberman, the NYCLU’s executive director.
nyclu.org
nyclu.org
"The lawsuit prompted the creation of the Nassau Chapter of the NYCLU, which was formed from three local civil liberties clubs that had been active on the north shore, the south shore and mid-island." .. 🎶🎶
"The other plaintiff parents were Daniel and Ruth Lichtenstein, Monroe and Julia Lerner, Lenore Lyons and Lawrence and Frances Roth, and Engel’s wife, Thelma."🎶🎶🎶
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