Title: School Prayer: Separation of Church and State
Headings: School Prayer: Separation of Church and State
School Prayer: Separation of Church and State
Why Johnny Can't Pray -- At School
School Prayer Declared Unconstitutional
How the Supreme Court Decide Issues of Religion in Government
The Lemon Test
The Coercion Test
The Endorsement Test
Church and State Controversy Will Not Go Away
The Roots of 'Separation of Church and State

Content: School Prayer: Separation of Church and State
Humanities › Issues
School Prayer: Separation of Church and State
Why Johnny Can't Pray -- At School
Praying at a School Assembly in 1948. Kurt Hulton / Getty Images Archives
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By
Robert Longley
History and Government Expert
B.S., Texas A&M University
Robert Longley is a U.S. government and history expert with over 30 years of experience in municipal government and urban planning. our editorial process
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Robert Longley
Updated March 25, 2019
While the phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear in the U.S Constitution, it forms the basis of the reason that organized prayer, as well as almost all types of religious ceremonies and symbols, have been banned at U.S. public schools and most public buildings since 1962. In the United States, church and state—the government—must remain separate according to the “ establishment clause ” of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...”
Basically, the establishment clause prohibits federal, state and local governments from displaying religious symbols or conducting religious practices on or in any property under the control of those governments, like courthouses, public libraries, parks and, most controversially, public schools. While the establishment clause and the constitutional concept of separation of church and state have been used over the years to force governments to remove things like the Ten Commandments and nativity scenes from their buildings and grounds, they have more famously been used to force the removal of prayer from America’s public schools. School Prayer Declared Unconstitutional
In parts of America, regular school prayer was practiced until 1962, when the U.S. Supreme Court, in the landmark case of Engel v. Vitale, ruled it unconstitutional. In writing the Court's opinion, Justice Hugo Black cited the "Establishment Clause" of the First Amendment: "It is a matter of history that this very practice of establishing governmentally composed prayers for religious services was one of the reasons which caused many of our early colonists to leave England and seek religious freedom in America. ...