SHOULD CHURCH AND STATE BE SEPARATE

1
SHOULD CHURCH AND STATE BE SEPARATE?

• Allison Giannini, Kim Serio, Amy Pepple

2
The Constitutions Framers Intended Strict
Separation of Church and State

• There is no question that the nations founders
  meant the First Amendment to disestablish any and
  all religions from state sponsorship or control.
• - Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs

3
The Constitutions Framers Intended Strict
Separation of Church and State

• The Baptist Joint Committee upholds the
  separation of church and state.
• Freedom which is only for the politically
  correct is not true freedom.
• Thomas Jefferson and James Madison argued that
  church-state separation would protect both
  religion and government.

4
The Constitutions Framers Did Not Intend Strict
Separation of Church and State

• The aim of the First Amendment was to prevent
  Congress from establishing a national religion
  that would threaten the religious diversity of
  the states.
• - M. Stanton Evans

5
The Origin and Evolution of Separation of Church
and State

• In 1801, President Thomas Jefferson received a
  letter from the Danbury Baptist Association of
  Danbury, Connecticut.
• Jefferson replied with the following statement
  "I contemplate with solemn reverence that act of
  the whole American people which declared that
  their legislature should 'make no law respecting
  an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
  free exercise of,' thus building a wall of
  separation between Church and State.
• Jefferson's words reappear in the 1878 case of
  Reynolds v. United States.
• In the 1974 Everson case, a wall of separation
  between church and state bore a new meaning a
  separation of basic religious principles from
  public arenas.

6
Everyday Activities Ruled Unconstitutional

• DeSpain v. DeKalb County Community School
  District, 1967
• Lowe v. City of Eugene, 1969
• Graham v. Central Community School District, 1985
  
• Kay v. Douglas School District, 1986
• Florey v. Sioux Falls School District, 1979
• State Board of Education v. Board of Education of
  Netcong, 1970

• Engel vs. Vitale, 1962
• Abington v. Schempp, 1963
• Commissioner of Education v. School Committee of
  Leyden, 1971
• Stein v. Oshinsky, 1965
• Collins v. Chandler Unified School District, 1981
• Reed v. Van Hoven, 1965

7
Founding Fathers

• James Madison - Before any man can be considered
  as a member of Civil Society, he must be
  considered as a subject of the Governor of the
  Universe Religion is the basis and
  foundation of government.
• John Adams - Religion and virtue are the only
  foundations, not only of republicanism and of all
  free government, but of social felicity under all
  governments and in all the combinations of human
  society.
• Alexander Hamilton - Of all the dispositions and
  habits which lead to political prosperity,
  religion and morality are indispensable
  supports. In vain would that man claim the
  tribute of patriotism, should labor to subvert
  these great pillars of human happiness . The
  mere politician ought to respect and cherish
  them . Reason and experience both forbid us to
  expect that national morality can prevail in
  exclusion of religious principle . Who that is
  a sincere friend to it can look with indifference
  upon attempts to shake the foundation of the
  fabric?

8
School Prayer Threatens Religious Liberty

• We need kids spending their time in school
  reading and writing and doing maths, not mumbling
  prayers.
• - Roger Simon

9
School Prayer Threatens Religious Liberty

• Public schools benefit children.
• Minority religious students should not have to
  pray with the majority.
• Kids need to know that it takes hard work and
  education to become better, not just a quick
  prayer at the beginning of the day.

10
Prohibiting School Prayer Threatens Religious
Liberty

• For the first half of the twentieth century and
  all of the nineteenth, children prayed in school
  . The minds of these children were not
  destroyed or perverted by these exposures.
• - Linda Bowles

11
Phased Out Prayer

• In 1962 the Supreme Court ruled in Engel v.
  Vitale that organized school prayer was
  unconstitutional.
• Good behavior trends in the public schools
  decline.
• Robert Lear, a secular humanist, known for his
  atheistic views, believes that religion has a
  place in the school system.

12
Praying Players

• There was later a controversy over school prayer
  in Texas, where a football team wished to
  voluntarily pray over the public announcement
  system before each game.
• Santa Fe Independent School District v. Jane Doe
  

13
Tax Dollars Should Not Fund Religious Schools

• By using public funds for private, parochial
  schools, religious conservatives strike a blow
  against secular, public education.
• - Bob Peterson

14
Tax Dollars Should Not Fund Religious Schools.

• Takes government money away from public schools.
• Public schools must comply with costly state and
  federal laws. Private schools do not.
• Tax dollars should be spent on improving public
  schools.
• 53 of Michigan residents oppose tax credits
• Every voucher program has a waiting list.

15
Tax Dollars Should Fund Religious Schools

• Providing public funds for a childs education,
  whether or not that education is pursued in a
  religious setting, does no violence to the
  Constitution.
• - Denis P. Doyle

16
Vouchers Defined

• Voucher - a payment system that transfers the tax
  dollars allotted for a student's education from
  the public school to the private or parochial
  school.
• San Antonio, Texas in 1998 for Edgewood school
  district consisting of ninety percent
  economically disadvantaged students.
• 800 students, falling in a family income bracket
  below 16,000 per year, made use of the vouchers.
  
• Sixty percent of the families who took advantage
  of the program reported they were "very
  satisfied" with the academic quality of their new
  school, and reported similarly to issues of
  school safety discipline, and quality of teaching.

17
Parochial Voucher Advantages from a Non-religious
View

• Minority and poor parents show the strongest
  support for a voucher system.
• The public school systems that are failing will
  be forced to improve due to competition with
  private schools.
• Schools will be more racially integrated, and
  religion will serve as a common ground between
  races.
• Joseph Viteritti, author of "A Way Out, states
  "If we are to realize the goal of equal
  opportunity in education, the question is not
  whether to have choice in America, but whether
  choice should be available to all, regardless of
  income or social status.