Law and Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Law and Ethics - Essay Example em came into existence; however, due to objections raised by certain citizens, the courts gave their verdict against these religious practices and forbade schools to continue with daily prayers. It is difficult to agree with the statement in the sense that religion is everyone’s personal belief and schools should not foster any particular religious idea among students particularly when the US constitution has granted a full freedom of faith to all its citizens. This simply means that separating church from the school education was indeed a necessity to secure a freedom of expression of the people as their fundamental right as provided in the US constitution. At least until 1962, the regular school prayers were common but while delivering its judgment in the case of Engel versus Vitale, the Supreme Court called it unconstitutional. The Supreme Court took its view citing the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and declared that the reciting prayer in the school is an unconstitutional act. The Establishment Clause ensures that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". The makers of the constitution had introduced the First Amendment, especially to prevent majority thrusting their opinions on others and the school prayers tended to do so. The Supreme Court further added that neither the nondenominational character nor the voluntary nature of school prayers can protect the schools from violating the Establishment clause. Through the case of Murray versus Curlett, the Supreme Court put an end to the prayer recitation practices in the public schools. The Fourteenth Amendment ensures that no state can ever make or enforce any law that results into taking away the privileges and rights given to all Americans. In the landmark decision, the Supreme Court declared that prayer recitation practices were in direct violation of the fundamental rights – "the freedom of religion† provided in the