Show:
Just The Facts
Court Cases and Related Info.
True or False
Important Dates
Important People/Officials
100
This document contains a provision that establishes the separation of church and state.
What is the U.S. Constitution?
100
This case, heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, and their subsequent ruling, stated that prayers and/or religious references at graduation ceremonies and other public events at public schools violated the 1st Amendment.
What is Lee v. Weisman?
100
A school should teach students what to believe.
What is false?
100
The famous Scopes "Monkey Trial" occurred in this year.
What is 1925? (Teaching of evolution as opposed to creation in public schools. High school biology teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act which made it unlawful to teach evolution. The original guilty verdict was evntually overturned)
100
This U.S. President was very much influenced by the "Enlightenment" movement.
Who is Thomas Jefferson? (The Age of Enlightenment was a cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe to mobilize the power of reason to reform society and advance knowledge.)
200
This publication (2001) discusses ethical and cultural literacy and civic values as they relate to California and has been deemed appropriate in public education.
What is The Historical-Social Science Framework for California? (This book relates religion and religious practices to a socio-demographic context and has been deemed educational in nature and passes the "Lemon Test")
200
This is the book that was the focal point of Grove v. Mead School District.
What is "The Learning Tree"? (By Gordon Parks - The central idea of the novel is racism as viewed by an adolescent boy from an African-American family)
200
Religion plays a role in public school subjects.
What is true? (history, politics, art, music, language etc.)
200
It was during this year, in New York, that prayer in public schools had its first judicial review, and the courts struck down a law requiring students to recite a prayer.
What is 1962? (Engel v. Vitale)
200
This jurist authored the "Lemon Test".
Who is Chief Justice Warren E. Berger? "Does the action have a secular purpose?" "Does the action have an effect that neither advances nor impedes religion?" "Does the action avoid excessive entanglement with religion?"
300
President James Madison was the architect and sponsor of the Bill of Rights. He gleaned some of his ideas/ideals from this English Law, which was established in 1689.
What is the Toleration Act? (The Act allowed freedom of worship to Nonconformists, i.e. Protestants who dissented from the Church of England such as Baptists and Congregationalists. Nonconformists were allowed their own places of worship and their own teachers.)
300
This case, which reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 1985, successfully challenged silent meditation in public schools.
What is Wallace v. Jaffree? (The United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama found in favor of the defendants. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed, holding the law unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruled that the Alabama law violated constitutional principle)
300
Public schools are required to teach religious studies.
What is false?
300
The Equal Access Act passed in this year.
What is 1984? (All extra-curricular clubs, even religion based entities, have the same rights to access public school facilities)
300
This future U.S. President joined Thomas Jefferson in promoting tolerance to religious freedom.
Who is James Madison? (Architect and sponsor of the Bill of Rights)
400
Presbyterians in late 18th century Virginia protested against this tax, which was later repealed.
What is the Church Tax? (All citizens, regardless of religious beliefs, practices and/or affiliations were required to pay taxes to the government in support of the Anglican Church)
400
These are 3 of the significant court cases/decisions that banned prayer & bible reading in public schools.
What are Engel v. Vitale (1962), Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) and the School District of Abington Township v. Schempp (1963)?
400
This devotional approach is taken when teaching religion related subject matter in a public school.
What is false? (Strictly an academic approach)
400
The practice of releasing public school students for private religious instruction, during school hours, began in Gary, Indiana in this year.
What is 1914? (There are approximately 1,000 released time programs in operation today, ranging from kindergarten to high school, with 250,000 students enrolled.)
400
This U.S. President approved the addition of, "under God", to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954.
Who is Dwight D. Eisenhower? (Note: West Virginia v. Barnette 1943 - U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public school students could not be forced to recite the pledge.)
500
These 2 clauses in the 1st Amendment prohibit religious indoctrination in the public schools or using public funds to support religion.
What are the Establishment Clause? (Prohibits the establishment of a national religion by Congress and/or the preference by the U.S. government of one religion over another) and the Free Exercise Clause? (Guarantees against governmental compulsion in religious matters)
500
These are the 3 parts of the "Lemon Test", which, when applied, will determine if particular religious material is appropriate for use in public schools.
What are "Does the action have a secular purpose?" "Does the action have an effect that neither advances nor impedes religion?" "Does the action avoid excessive entanglement with religion?" (By U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger).
500
The "Pledge of Allegiance" was declared unconstitutional in 2004.
What is false? (Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow. The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the case, citing that Newdow did not have legal standing. He was not married to the mother of the child and legal custody was pending in family court. The mother had no issue with her child saying the pledge)
500
On this date the Penn. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Schempp's in their case against the School District of Abington Township.
What is June 17th, 1963? (Schempps objected to their child being forced to read/hear bible verses being read aloud in homeroom)
500
In 1955 this government official decided that the distribution of free bibles to public school students, on school grounds and during school related functions, was prohibited.
Who is the Attorney General of California? (Democrat Pat Brown 1951-1959)