Deals with court decisions related to secular humanism in public schools. States that the major issues are: (1) whether or not secular humanism is a religion; and (2) whether or not it is being promoted in public schools. Relates implications of the court's apparent definition of secular as nonreligious, rather than anti-religious. (LS)

This report analyzes recent cases and legislation in the area of church-state separation. A brief introduction asserts that the Supreme Court's method of evaluating establishment clause controversies is undergoing pervasive changes that have permitted incursions on establishment principles. The rest of the paper, providing support for this…

The purpose of this article is to 1) examine the interpretive method applied to the United States Constitution referred of as"Original Intent" and the degree, if any, to which it is superior in objectivity than other methods, 2) discuss whether the application of the interpretive method would have an effect preferred by conservative or…

Discusses Louisiana case wherein a federal district court judge ruled that an elementary principal violated the Establishment Clause by distributing Bibles to students. Includes Supreme Court's three-part "Lemon" test to determine if government practice violates the Establishment Clause. (PKP)

A court-approved Milwaukee voucher program permits up to 15% of the city's public schoolchildren to attend private/religious schools at state expense. This represents no victory for vouchers. Although the Wisconsin Supreme Court found vouchers constitutional, it may not believe they are valid under the federal constitution. (MLH)

In "Zobrest" and "Kiryas Joel" the Supreme Court considered the relationship between public and private school systems, and between church and state. Examines the situations of the cases and the opinions of the Supreme Court Justices in relation to them, and in relation to the 15 most recent Establishment Clause cases affecting…

In 1998, the Wisconsin State Supreme Court reversed the decision of the appellate court and ruled that the amended Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) did not violate the Establishment Clause or the Wisconsin Constitution. Examines the constitutionality of vouchers for both secular and sectarian private schools, as well as the policy…

Rather than allowing the unconstitutional Bible study program to remain in the schools in a modified form, the Court should have opted for a released-time arrangement. Available from Tennessee Law Review Association, Inc., 1505 W. Cumberland Ave., Knoxville, TN 37916. (Author/IRT)

Discussed are the statutory development of the reasonable accommodation rule, the Supreme Court's treatment of the rule, and the constitutionality of the rule under the establishment clause. Available from IIT/Chicago-Kent College of Law, 77 South Wacker Dr., Chicago, IL 60606. (Author/MLF)

The United States Supreme Court has refused to articulate a hierarchy among the guarantees of speech, press, assembly, and petition. The Court also has avoided specifying whether expression rights or safeguards against religious establishment are dominant. Addresses litigation indicating that free speech protections prevail when they collide with…

Lower courts have generally held that Bible distribution in public schools violates the Establishment Clause. More recent litigation has focused on distribution of religious literature other than Bibles. Examines the background of the issue, considers the most recent court decisions, and discusses the implications of these decisions. (57…

Addresses the constitutionality of tuition-voucher programs that provide access to private, parochial schools. Surveys Establishment Clause jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court. Examines the Cleveland, Ohio, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, tuition-voucher programs, currently being litigated in the respective state courts, in an attempt to…

Images of heretics burning at the stake or of traitors being drawn, hanged, and quartered for disloyalty to the king seem well removed from twenty-first century America. Yet the laws that defined these offenses--which included heresy and blasphemy, sedition and treason--were at the heart of some of the most significant debates defining the shape…

Summarizes court cases bearing on religion in the school setting and the use of the three-part "Lemon" test in Establishment Clause cases; and examines a Louisiana District Court decision that affirmed the action of a school principal prohibiting a religiously oriented valedictory address. (MLF)

The Supreme Court, in an upcoming case "Lee v. Weisman," will rule on whether prayer may be offered out loud at a public school graduation program. Argues that past court decisions have interpreted the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment over the Free Speech Clause of that same amendment. (57 references) (MLF)