Landmark Supreme Court Case · Freedom of religion
Engel v. Vitale (1962)
- Decided
- 1962
- Vote
- 6–1
- Opinion
- Justice Hugo Black
- Constitutional provisions
Facts of the case
The New York State Board of Regents wrote a short, nondenominational prayer and recommended that public schools have students recite it each morning: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our Country." Participation was voluntary. Parents in New Hyde Park, including Steven Engel, sued the school board, whose president was William Vitale.
The constitutional question
Does reciting an official, state-composed prayer in public schools violate the Establishment Clause, even when participation is voluntary and the prayer is nondenominational?
The decision
Yes. Government-written, government-sponsored prayer in public schools violates the Establishment Clause, applied to the states through the 14th Amendment. Making the prayer voluntary and nondenominational did not save it.
The Court's reasoning
The Establishment Clause means government may not compose official prayers or put its power and prestige behind a particular religious practice.
Why it matters
It began the modern line of school prayer cases. A year later, Abington School District v. Schempp (1963) struck down school-sponsored Bible reading. Students remain free to pray privately at school. What is forbidden is government-sponsored prayer.
In the Court's words
it is no part of the business of government to compose official prayers for any group of the American people to recite as a part of a religious program carried on by government.
Justice Hugo Black, majority opinion