Author Question: It is generally agreed that if a public school required all its students to participate in a ... (Read 82 times)

jon_i · **on:** Jun 19, 2018

It is generally agreed that if a public school required all its students to participate in a religious
prayer during school hours, that would violate the First Amendments prohibition on the
establishment of religion. But many variations on such a practice raise more challenging issues.

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

In 2012, Samuel Mullett, Sr and fifteen of his Amish followers in Bergholz, Ohio were charged
with Federal hate crimes, consisting of cutting off the beards and long hair of other Amish with
whom they had long had disputes about specific religious beliefs. The Amish testified to the
significance to their sense of self-worth from the uncut beards, which had been shorn against
their will. The attackers used sharp horse shears normally used for clipping horse manes. Amish
leaders had tried to resolve the disputes within the religion for many years through their own
forms of punishment.

What will be an ideal response?

mmj22343 · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 19, 2018

Answer to Question 1

1. In Alabama, the legislature passed a law mandating a period of silence for meditation or
voluntary prayer. The law was challenged as a violation of the First Amendment. The
U.S. Supreme Court, in a case called Wallace v. Jaffree in 1985, struck down the law,
putting special emphasis on the legislative record, in which the sponsor of the legislation
said that the goal was to return to voluntary prayer in the public schools. If this
statement had not been made by the legislation's sponsor and the state had shown a
clearly secular purpose in the meditation alternative, do you think this type of
requirement should be permitted? What philosophical arguments would support it and
which would oppose it?
2. The football team at Kountze High School in East Texas enters the football field by
breaking through barriers with Biblical passages. The cheerleaders who create the
banners claim that these are forms of religious expression and free speech. Critics say
that this constitutes a religious message sponsored by the school district and thus
violates the prohibition on state establishment of religions. Do you agree with the
cheerleaders or the school district? What factors are most important in determining
which rights prevail in this situation? A state court judge in the fall of 2012 sided with the
cheerleaders and said they could continue using their banners until a full trial could be
held the following year. Research reliable sources to determine the outcome of that trial
and see whether your reasoning agrees with the conclusions reached then.

Answer to Question 2

1. The hate here consisted of disputes between different strands of the Amish religion.
Should religious sects such as the Amish have the religious freedom to impose their own
forms of punishment, even if some appear to an outsider to constitute prohibited hate
crimes?
2. The U.S. Attorney who brought the case against Mullett and his followers said that he
was trying to protect the religious freedom of the Amish in that community who
disagreed with Mullett. Some of the Amish said that outsiders could never understand
the realities of the Amish beliefs and their means for resolving disputes. Do you agree
with the U.S. Attorney that the general society has an obligation to ensure freedom of
religion in such a circumstance? Develop philosophical arguments in support of your
position.