School prayer timeline: The evolution of prayer in schools, from Founding Fathers to President Trump’s commitment to bringing it back
The separation of church and state makes school prayer unlawful, but a conservative Supreme Court and President-elect Donald Trump are signaling a change
Assistant football coach Joe Kennedy takes a knee in front of the U.S. Supreme Court after his legal case about prayer in public school was argued before the court in April 2022. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
By Benyamin Cohen November 12, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump promised that in his second term, he would dismantle the Board of Education and shift responsibility for public schools to the states. Seeming to contradict himself, he also said the federal government would “support bringing back prayer to our schools.”
Students are allowed to pray in private at public schools or as part of religious clubs, but school-mandated prayers were ruled unconstitutional by a landmark 1962 Supreme Court ruling.
Here’s a brief timeline of prayers in public schools, from the Founding Fathers to President Trump.
1791 to 1963
1791 ► The First Amendment of the Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” which creates a separation between church and state, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” which gives people the right to practice their own religion.
1868 ► The First Amendment originally applied only on the federal level, and not to state-run public schools. The Fourteenth Amendment expanded it to also apply to local and state governments, which run public schools.
1868 – 1962 ► Many public schools began each day with a prayer, despite what was enshrined by the Constitution. By the 1950s, this was routine in at least 37 states. What’s more, a dozen states required Bible reading in school.
1962 ► The New York Board of Regents developed a prayer for that state’s public schools. While students were not required to recite the prayer, its adoption in at least one school district caused controversy. Steven Engel, a Jewish parent and a co-founder of the New York Civil Liberties Union, joined with other Long Island parents and filed a lawsuit. The landmark case, known as Engel v. Vitale, eventually wound its way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the prayer was unlawful.
1963 ► In another case, Abington School District v. Schempp, the Supreme Court outlawed compulsory Bible reading and the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer in public schools.
1963 to the present
In the decades since those Supreme Court rulings, there is still some prayer in public schools. A 2019 Pew Research study found that 8% of teens say a teacher has led their class in prayer.
1992 ► A Rhode Island Jewish family watched as a Baptist minister led a prayer invoking Jesus at a middle school graduation ceremony for their older daughter. They complained to the school afterwards and were given assurances that it would not happen again. A few years later, when their younger daughter graduated, the school instead asked a rabbi to lead the prayer. The family sued out of principle, arguing that it still violated the Constitution. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the family, reaffirming that public prayers were prohibited in schools.
2000 ► Parents sued a Santa Fe school district after it chose student “chaplains” to lead public prayers at football games. After hearing the case, the Supreme Court ruled the practice unconstitutional.
2022 ► The Bremerton School District in Washington State fired Joe Kennedy, a high school football coach, for praying with players at the 50-yard-line after games. The Supreme Court — with a conservative majority thanks to three new justices appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term — ruled in favor of Coach Kennedy. The school district rehired Kennedy, who coached one game and then quit.
July 2024 ► Oklahoma ordered all of its public school classrooms to have a Bible and to teach the Bible for students in grades 5 through 12. “If somebody in history cites the Bible, whether you believe in the Bible or not, that’s really irrelevant,” Ryan Walters, the state superintendent and son of a Christian minister, told the Forward. “We have to cover history accurately.” Teachers have resisted, and a group of parents filed a lawsuit to stop the new law.
Nov. 2024 ► In July of this year, Louisiana ordered all public school classrooms to display a poster of the Ten Commandments. Parents sued and a federal judge blocked the state from enforcing the law in November. A lengthy legal fight is expected to ensue.
Nov. 2024 ► President-elect Donald Trump said he wants to bring prayer back to public schools.
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