1. RELIGION AND THE
AMERICAN
CONSTITUTIONAL
EXPERIMENT
Chapter 9
Government and Religious Education

2. Government and Religious
Education
 The Supreme Court’s cases on the role of
government in religious education fall into
three main phases:
1. Accommodationist 1908-1971
2. Strict Separationist 1971-1986
3. Equal Treatment 1986-

3. Accommodationist Cases (1908-
1986)
 Prior to 1947, the Court had based its
decisions on general principles of liberty and
fairness, and applying common law rather than
the First Amendment directly.
 These early cases provided the foundation for
a general accommodationist logic about the
place of government in religious schools that
emerged in cases after 1947.

4. Accommodationism
 The Court’s arguments:
 Public schools are only one form of lower education –
religious schools provide a valuable and viable
alternative.
 It is not a violation of the free exercise clause for
states to require private religious schools to meet
accreditation requirements.
 It is also no violation of the establishment clause for
private religious schools to receive the same general
forms of government support that are given to public
schools to meet secular educational requirements.

5. Accommodationist Cases
 Everson v. Board of Education (1947)
 Board of Education v. Allen (1968)
 Tilton v. Richardson (1971)
 Hunt v. McNair (1973)
 Roemer v. Maryland Public Works Board
(1977)

6. Separationist Cases (1971-1985)
 In the early 1970s, using the three-part Lemon
test, the Court adopted a firm policy against
governmental aid to religious schools and
against cooperation between religious and
public schools, teachers, students and
programs.
 Funding for religious colleges did continue;
however, it was ended for religious grade
schools and high schools.

7. Separationist Cases
 Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
 Committee for Public Education v. Nyquist
(1973)
 Sloan v. Lemon (1973)
 Aguilar v. Felton (1985)

8. Equal Treatment Cases (1983-
2004)
 The core holdings of the separationist cases
from 1971-1985 haven’t changed.
 However, in several recent cases, the Court
has upheld various government programs that
grant to religious students or their parents the
same general benefits afforded to others.

9. Equal Treatment Cases
 Mueller v. Allen (1983)
 Witters v. Washington Department of Services
for the Blind (1986)
 Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District
(1993)
 Agostini v. Felton (1997)
 Mitchell v. Helms (2000)
 Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002)
 Locke v. Davey (2004)