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Culture and Recreation - How Has The Separation Of Church And State Affected Public Schools In The United States?

How has the separation of church and state affected public schools in the United States?

Several U.S. Supreme Court rulings in the mid-twentieth century led to an attempt to separate religious education from public schools. On June 17, 1963, the Court ruled that prayer and Bible reading in public schools is unconstitutional. The decision was the culmination of a series of high court rulings over the course of almost twenty years that gradually removed religious activities from public schools. These rulings began in 1947 with the New Jersey case of Everson v. Board of Education, in which the court defended the use of state funding to transport children to parochial schools (supported by a church) but warned that "a wall of separation between church and state must be maintained." In 1948 the case of McCollum v. The Board of Education led to the banning of all religious...

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