The Supreme Court disallowed a released-time religious instruction program in public schools, helping define the meaning of the First Amendment’s establishment of religion clause.
By an 8-1 vote, the Supreme Court found unconstitutional a released-time religious education program in the Illinois public schools. Under the Illinois program, Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish instructors not paid with public funds but approved by the superintendent of schools came into the schools to teach thirty- to forty-five-minute religious training programs and kept records of those attending. Any student not wishing to participate could participate in supervised alternative activities elsewhere in the building. In his opinion for the Court, Justice Hugo L. Black
Abington School District v. Schempp
Engel v. Vitale
Epperson v. Arkansas
Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing Township
Religion, establishment of
Zorach v. Clauson