Engel vs. Vitale
...so “…was composed by governmental officials as a part of a governmental program to further religious beliefs” (172). These were two main reasons for the court’s decision. In addition, Mr. Justice Black also referred to our founding history, and the fact that it was this exact practice of instituting arranged prayers by the government, which forced the colonists to flee from England. It was for these and other reasons that the court deemed this act unconstitutional. The dissenting opinion in this case centered on the fact that the children were given the option to recite the prayer or not. Also, Mr. Justice Stewart discussed the many examples of where religion exits in our daily lives. He argued that both the Senate and the House of Representatives open their sessions with a prayer, that one of the stanzas of “The Star-Spangled Banner” contains verses of a religious influence, that “IN GOD WE TRUST” is printed on our coins, and that the words “…one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” were added to the Pledge of Allegiance. Simply put, the dissenting opinion believed that “…to deny them the opportunity of sharing in the spiritual heritage of our Nation” was wrong (176). The outcome of this case clearly displayed to public life that there was a distinct line drawn for the issue of school prayer; it simply was not permitted. In my opinion, this was a black and white case. I am in total agreement with the court’s decision because that prayer was directly correlated with religion....