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Reconsidering Gobitis: An Exercise In Presidential Leadership, Robert L. Tsai
Reconsidering Gobitis: An Exercise In Presidential Leadership, Robert L. Tsai
Faculty Scholarship
In June of 1940, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in Minersville School District v. Gobitis that the First Amendment posed no barrier to the punishment of two school age Jehovah's Witnesses who refused to pay homage to the American flag. Three years later, the Justices reversed themselves in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette. This sudden change has prompted a host of explanations. Some observers have stressed changes in judicial personnel in the intervening years; others have pointed to the wax and wane of general anxieties over the war; still others have emphasized the sympathy-inspiring acts of …
Too Much, Too Little: Religion In The Public Schools, Jay D. Wexler
Too Much, Too Little: Religion In The Public Schools, Jay D. Wexler
Faculty Scholarship
The current state of religion in the nation's public schools is odd indeed. On the one hand, the courts have consistently held that public school teachers may not lead their students in an organized prayer. Yet on the other hand, most people seem to agree that there is no problem with those same teachers leading their students in the Pledge of Allegiance, an exercise that asks students on a daily basis, not only to explicitly recognize the existence of a single god, but also to link the nation's very identity to that highly contested theological proposition. Likewise, despite the fact …
Darwin, Design, And Disestablishment: Teaching The Evolution Controversy In Public Schools, Jay D. Wexler
Darwin, Design, And Disestablishment: Teaching The Evolution Controversy In Public Schools, Jay D. Wexler
Faculty Scholarship
The controversy over teaching evolution in public schools is once again hot news. Ever since the Supreme Court decided in 1987 that Louisiana could not constitutionally require teachers to give equal time to teaching creation science and evolution, critics of evolution have adopted a variety of new strategies to change the way in which public schools present the subject to their students. These strategies have included teaching evolution as a "theory" rather than as a fact, disclaiming the truth of evolutionary theory, teaching arguments against evolution, teaching the allegedly nontheistic theory of intelligent design instead of creationism, removing evolution from …
Preparing For The Clothed Public Square: Teaching About Religion, Civic Education, And The Constitution, Jay D. Wexler
Preparing For The Clothed Public Square: Teaching About Religion, Civic Education, And The Constitution, Jay D. Wexler
Faculty Scholarship
Although law and religion scholars have long argued about whether American culture marginalizes religious belief, many important indicators suggest that religion indeed plays a prominent role in contemporary American life. America is an extremely religious nation. Polls consistently show that about ninety percent of Americans continue to believe in God, and both church attendance and membership remain at high levels. This religiosity, moreover, spills out into the public square. A great many Americans rely on religious reasons when thinking and talking about public issues. Ninety percent of the members of Congress, by one report, consult their religious beliefs when voting …