Bill Murchison

In the 1962 case Engel v. Vitale, the Supreme Court ruled that teacher-led prayers in school classes violated the First Amendment’s prohibition of an “establishment of religion.” Since then the issue of school prayer has returned to the Supreme Court several times. In June 2000, the Supreme Court considered a Texas school district’s proposal for beginning school football games with an invocation (that may or may not incorporate a prayer) by a student selected by other students. The Court ruled that such a practice constituted a constitutionally unacceptable version of school prayer. In the following viewpoint, Bill Murchison criticizes the Supreme Court for placing restrictions on school prayer, arguing that such rulings have unfairly limited the rights of students to religious expression, and that...