Why is the case of Engel v Vitale important?

Answer 1

Engel v. Vitale was the first major challenge to prayer in the public schools. The US Supreme Court applied the First Amendment Establishment Clause to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause, and held that organized prayer in pubic schools is unconstitutional. Public schools are considered an agent of the government because they operate using taxpayer dollars.

In the 6-1 opinion of the Court, Justice Black explained the Founding Fathers' concern that allowing any intermingling of church and government could lead to a form of tyranny that infringes the rights of those whose beliefs are different from the vocal majority. The Court held that religion was in no part the business of government.

"The history of governmentally established religion, both in England and in this country, showed that whenever government had allied itself with one particular form of religion, the inevitable result had been that it had incurred the hatred, disrespect and even contempt of those who held contrary beliefs. That same history showed that many people had lost their respect for any religion that had relied upon the support of government to spread its faith. The Establishment Clause thus stands as an expression of principle on the part of the Founders of our Constitution that religion is too personal, too sacred, too holy, to permit its "unhallowed perversion" by a civil magistrate."

Justice Black went on to explain that the purpose of the First Amendment was not to destroy religion, but to protect the citizens from the religious tyranny the English had experienced at the hands of the state, and that the Colonists had determined to escape. In closing he quoted the author of the First Amendment, James Madison:

"[I]t is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. . . . Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects? That the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever?"

Case Citation:

Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962)

For more information, see Related Questions, below.