S. Sec. 421). This brief prayer is known as the Regent Prayer. Ten student of the public school asked if this prayer was against their beliefs, and those that their parents instilled in them. Their parents felt the prayer was a violation of the First Amendment statement "Congress shall make no law respecting on establishment of religion." (US First Amendment) The courts of appeal ordered that New York had a right to say the Regent Prayer because it did not compel students to join in on the prayer, and because the prayer was completely optional. This ruling was protected by the rights of the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendments. The parents of those students believe that the Regent Prayer is a violation of the establishment clause. This prayer is seen by government officials as trying to further religious beliefs. The Regent Prayer is viewed by the parents as breaking the constitutional will of separation of church and state. In every court hearing and every Senate or House meeting there seems to be a small prayer said. The state is trying to compare a teacher saying a short nondenominational prayer to the prayer that courts and government meetings have. Parents are saying that everyone in the presence of prayer is a captive audience. "Church and religion shall live both and upon that freedom. There cannot be freedom of religion, safeguard by the state, and intervention by the church or its agencies in the state's domain or dependency on its openhandedness(370 U.S. sec. 421)." Mr. Justice Stewart overturned the ruling of the previous court which let the public schools in New York continue to say this brief prayer. He thought the district courts had made a wrong decision. The court is stating that a teacher cannot promote the saying of a prayer, but anyone wanting to pray in a public school has a right to do so. The government today cannot force a group of Americans to take part in any subject dealing with religion.
