Prayer in School

There has been volatile controversy over devotionals in public education since the mid-twentieth century. Prior to that time, Protestant observances were common in public schools, especially in the southern Bible Belt. However, in the early 1960s, the Supreme Court relied on the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to prohibit school-sponsored daily prayer and Bible reading in public education. The Court reasoned that voluntary participation of students in the religious activities was irrelevant; school sponsorship of devotionals abridged the First Amendment. Instead of resolving the school prayer controversy, however, these decisions have generated more than four decades of legislative, administrative, and judicial responses. Moreover, national polls have indicated that about two thirds of Americans support a constitutional amendment to allow public school prayers, although no proposed amendment has yet been adopted.

About one half of the states have laws authorizing a minute at the beginning of the public school day for students to engage in silent meditation or prayer. In 1985, the Supreme Court rendered its only opinion to date on such laws, Wallace v. Jaffree. In this case, the Court invalidated a 1981 Alabama silent prayer statute under the Establishment Clause because the law's legislative history exhibited an impermissible intent to encourage students to pray. The Court indicated, however, that provisions calling for silent meditation or prayer in public schools without such intent might survive an Establishment Clause challenge. Subsequently, two federal appellate courts upheld state laws calling for a moment for silent reflection or prayer in public school classrooms at the beginning of the school day as being religiously neutral and intended to provide students time for quiet reflection.

More controversial than silent prayer policies have been various attempts to allow spoken devotionals in public schools. Courts have struck down efforts by school staff members to lead devotionals during school or extracurricular activities. In 1992, the Supreme Court in Lee v. Weisman invalidated a Rhode Island school district's policy that permitted principals to invite clergy members to deliver invocations and benedictions at middle and high school graduations because of its coercive effect; students felt peer pressure to participate in the devotionals during the school-sponsored ceremony.

Some school districts responded to Weisman by designating the graduation ceremony as a forum for student expression, allowing students to select their graduation messages that may include prayers. This practice has been upheld if student speakers are selected based on secular criteria, such as their class rank, and school authorities do not review their speeches. However, if school authorities retain control over the content of the graduation ceremony, they have the right to censor proselytizing messages, and the Establishment Clause may require them to do so.

The most controversial post-Weisman strategy to return devotionals to public schools has been to allow students to vote whether to include student-delivered prayers in graduation ceremonies and extracurricular activities. Although the Supreme Court has not directly addressed student-led graduation prayers, in 2000 it struck down a Texas school district's policy authorizing student elections to determine whether to have studentled devotionals before public school football games. The Court in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe declared that student religious expression at a school event on school property and representing the student body under the supervision of school personnel could not be considered private speech and thus violated the Establishment Clause. However, the majority emphasized that the Constitution does not prohibit public school students from voluntarily praying at school if the devotionals are not school sponsored.

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