As recently as 200 years ago, "education on all levels in Europe and the Americas was almost entirely church controlled." For around the first 50 years of its existence, public school was able to engage in moral ind

octrination simply because the many different religious and moral characteristics of immigrants, that would come to shape America, were not yet an issue. After the surge of immigrants into America in the latter half of the 19th century, the public schools underwent many changes. Various religious denominations were unable to compromise on certain issues. For example, Christians and Jews debated how they could communicate their common ethical heritage, without betraying their profound disagreements on Jesus Christ. In 1884, 1890, 1898, 1904, and 1904 again, the Supreme Court's of Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas, and Kentucky respectively held that Bible reading, recitation of the Lord's Prayer, singing of religious songs, and/or prayer in the public schools of each state did not violate their state constitutions. In 1902 the Supreme Court of Nebraska decided that these religious acts in public schools did violate the constitution of Nebraska. By 1963 Bible reading was required in 13 states, and permitted in 25 others. However, the Bible's use as devotional literature, or as a book for moral instruction has been forbidden by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Abington School District v. Schempp in 1963. Even such seemingly harmless activities such as Christmas plays, carols, recitations, and the construction of creches, as well as Jewish children enacting the festival of Hanukkah have been brought to a halt by the courts decisions. The position taken by the court is that the First Amendment commands "that the Government maintain strict neu

Some topics in this essay:
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