School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania v. Schempp Murray Iii v. Curlett, s. 142 and 119

Decision Date17 June 1963
Docket NumberNos. 142 and 119,s. 142 and 119
PartiesSCHOOL DISTRICT OF ABINGTON TOWNSHIP, PENNSYLVANIA, et al., Appellants, v. Edward Lewis SCHEMPP et al. William J. MURRAY III, etc., et al., Petitioners, v. John N. CURLETT, President, et al., Individually, and Constituting the Board of School Commissioners of Baltimore City
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

No. 142.

[Syllabus from 203 intentionally omitted]

Philip H. Ward III, Philadelphia, Pa., and John D. Killian, III, Harrisburg, Pa., for appellants.

Henry W. Sawyer III, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellees.

No. 119.

Leonard J. Kerpelman, Baltimore, Md., for petitioners.

Francis B. Burch and George W. Baker, Jr., Baltimore, Md., for respondents.

Thomas B. Finan, Baltimore, Md., for State of Maryland, as amicus curiae.

[Amicus Curiae intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice CLARK delivered the opinion of the Court.

Once again we are called upon to consider the scope of the provision of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution which declares that 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof * * *.' These companion cases present the issues in the context of state action requiring that schools begin each day with readings from the Bible. While raising the basic questions under slightly different factual situations, the cases permit of joint treatment. In light of the history of the First Amendment and of our cases interpreting and applying its requirements, we hold that the practices at issue and the laws requiring them are unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause, as applied to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment.

I.

The Facts in Each Case: No. 142. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by law, 24 Pa.Stat. § 15—1516, as amended, Pub.Law 1928 (Supp.1960) Dec. 17, 1959, requires that 'At least ten verses from the Holy Bible shall be read, without comment, at the opening of each public school on each school day. Any child shall be excused from such Bible reading, or attending such Bible reading, upon the written request of his parent or guardian.' The Schempp family, husband and wife and two of their three children, brought suit to enjoin enforcement of the statute, contending that their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States are, have been, and will continue to be violated unless this statute be declared unconstitutional as violative of these provisions of the First Amendment. They sought to enjoin the appellant school district, wherein the Schempp children attend school, and its officers and the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth from continuing to conduct such readings and recitation of the Lord's Prayer in the public schools of the district pursuant to the statute. A three-judge statutory District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania held that the statute is violative of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment as applied to the States by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and directed that appropriate injunctive relief issue. D.C., 201 F.Supp. 815.1 On appeal by the District, its officials and the Superintendent, under 28 U.S.C. § 1253, we noted probable jurisdiction. 371 U.S. 807, 83 S.Ct. 25, 9 L.Ed.2d 52.

The appellees Edward Lewis Schempp, his wife Sidney, and their children, Roger and Donna, are of the Unitarian faith and are members of the Unitarian Church in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they, as well as another son, Ellory, regularly attend religious services. The latter was originally a party but having graduated from the school system pendente lite was voluntarily dismissed from the action. The other children attend the Abington Senior High School, which is a public school operated by appellant district.

On each school day at the Abington Senior High School between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m., while the pupils are attending their home rooms or advisory sections, opening exer- cises are conducted pursuant to the statute. The exercises are broadcast into each room in the school building through an intercommunications system and are conducted under the supervision of a teacher by students attending the school's radio and television workshop. Selected students from this course gather each morning in the school's workshop studio for the exercises, which include readings by one of the students of 10 verses of the Holy Bible, broadcast to each room in the building. This is followed by the recitation of the Lord's Prayer, likewise over the intercommunications system, but also by the students in the various classrooms, who are asked to stand and join in repeating the prayer in unison. The exercises are closed with the flag salute and such pertinent announcements as are of interest to the students. Participation in the opening exercises, as directed by the statute, is voluntary. The student reading the verses from the Bible may select the passages and read from any version he chooses, although the only copies furnished by the school are the King James version, copies of which were circulated to each teacher by the school district. During the period in which the exercises have been conducted the King James, the Douay and the Revised Standard versions of the Bible have been used, as well as the Jewish Holy Scriptures. There are no prefatory statements, no questions asked or solicited, no comments or explanations made and no interpretations given at or during the exercises. The students and parents are advised that the student may absent himself from the classroom or, should he elect to remain, not participate in the exercises.

It appears from the record that in schools not having an intercommunications system the Bible reading and the recitation of the Lord's Prayer were conducted by the home-room teacher,2 who chose the text of the verses and read them herself or had students read them in rotation or by volunteers. This was followed by a standing recitation of the Lord's Prayer, together with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag by the class in unison and a closing announcement of routine school items of interest.

At the first trial Edward Schempp and the children testified as to specific religious doctrines purveyed by a literal reading of the Bible 'which were contrary to the religious beliefs which they held and to their familial teaching.' 177 F.Supp. 398, 400. The children testified that all of the doctrines to which they referred were read to them at various times as part of the exercises. Edward Schempp testified at the second trial that he had considered having Roger and Donna excused from attendance at the exercises but decided against it for several reasons, including his belief that the children's relationships with their teachers and classmates would be adversely affected.3 Expert testimony was introduced by both appellants and appellees at the first trial, which testimony was summarized by the trial court as follows:

'Dr. Solomon Grayzel testified that there were marked differences between the Jewish Holy Scriptures and the Christian Holy Bible, the most obvious of which was the absence of the New Testament in the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Dr. Grayzel testified that portions of the New Testament were offensive to Jewish tradition and that, from the standpoint of Jewish faith, the concept of Jesus Christ as the Son of God was 'practically blasphemous'. He cited instances in the New Testament which, assertedly, were not only sectarian in nature but tended to bring the Jews into ridicule or scorn. Dr. Grayzel gave as his expert opinion that such material from the New Testament could be explained to Jewish children in such a way as to do no harm to them. But if portions of the New Testament were read without explanation, they could be, and in his specific experience with children Dr. Grayzel observed, had been, psychologically harmful to the child and had caused a divisive force within the social media of the school.

'Dr. Grayzel also testified that there was significant difference in attitude with regard to the respective Books of the Jewish and Christian Religions in that Judaism attaches no special significance to the reading of the Bible per se and that the Jewish Holy Scriptures are source materials to be studied. But Dr. Grayzel did state that many portions of the New as well as of the Old, Testament contained passages of great literary and moral value.

'Dr. Luther A. Weigle, an expert witness for the defense, testified in some detail as to the reasons for and the methods employed in developing the King James and the Revised Standard Versions of the Bible. On direct examination, Dr. Weigle stated that the Bible was non-sectarian. He later stated that the phrase 'non-sectarian' meant to him non-sectarian within the Christian faiths. Dr. Weigle stated that his definition of the Holy Bible would include the Jewish Holy Scriptures, but also stated that the 'Holy Bible' would not be complete without the New Testament. He stated that the New Testament 'conveyed the message of Christians.' In his opinion, reading of the Holy Scriptures to the exclution of the New Testament would be a sectarian practice. Dr. Weigle stated that the Bible was of great moral, historical and literary value. This is conceded by all the parties and is also the view of the court.' 177 F.Supp. 398, 401—402.

The trial court, in striking down the practices and the statute requiring them, made specific findings of fact that the children's attendance at Abington Senior High School is compulsory and that the practice of reading 10 verses from the Bible is also compelled by law. It also found that:

'The reading of the verses, even without comment, possesses a devotional and religious character and constitutes in effect a religious observance. The devotional and religious nature of the morning exercises is made all the more apparent by the fact that...

To continue reading

Request your trial
1166 cases
  • Citizens for Parental Rights v. San Mateo County Bd. of Education
    • United States
    • California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
    • August 28, 1975
    ...be accompanied by moral instruction.' In Medeiros, as here, the parties based their 'free exercise' argument on Abington v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 83 S.Ct. 1560, 10 L.Ed.2d 844. As the Supreme Court of Hawaii pointed out, Schempp concerned two state laws: one requiring that at least ten ver......
  • Citizens for Quality Educ. San Diego v. Barrera
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of California
    • September 25, 2018
    ..." Trump v. Hawaii , ––– U.S. ––––, 138 S.Ct. 2392, 2416, 201 L.Ed.2d 775 (2018) (quoting Sch. Dist. of Abington Twp. v. Schempp , 374 U.S. 203, 224 n.9, 83 S.Ct. 1560, 10 L.Ed.2d 844 (1963) ). "[S]piritual harm resulting from unwelcome direct contact with an allegedly offensive religious (o......
  • Doe v. Pittsylvania Cnty., Va.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of Virginia
    • February 3, 2012
    ...religious symbolism is precisely the injury that was sufficient to confer standing in School District of Abington v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 83 S.Ct. 1560, 10 L.Ed.2d 844 (1963).” Suhre, 131 F.3d at 1086. In Schempp, school children and their parents sued the school district, complaining of ......
  • Duffy v. State Personnel Bd.
    • United States
    • California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
    • July 9, 1991
    ...(Ibid. at p. 314, 72 S.Ct. at p. 684.) Justice Goldberg expressed a similar view in Abington School District v. Schempp (1963) 374 U.S. 203, 83 S.Ct. 1560, 10 L.Ed.2d 844 (conc. opn.), by cautioning against any impression that neutrality meant hostility, urging that "untutored devotion to t......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
61 books & journal articles
  • The Ideology of Supreme Court Opinions and Citations
    • United States
    • Iowa Law Review No. 97-3, March 2012
    • March 1, 2012
    ...372 U.S. 368 (1963) Fay v. Noia, 372 U.S. 391 (1963) Ker v. California, 374 U.S. 23 (1963) Sch. Dist. of Abington Twp., Pa. v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963) Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1 (1964) N.Y. Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964) Griffin v. Cnty. Sch. Bd., 377 U.S. 218 (1964) R......
  • The Centrality of Exclusion: Legal Impediments to Keeping 'Undesirable' People and Uses Out of the Community
    • United States
    • Land use planning and the environment: a casebook
    • January 23, 2010
    ...underlying the Establishment Clause is preventing “a fusion of governmental and religious functions,” Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 222 (1963). 10 The Framers did not set up a system of government in which important, discretionary governmental powers would be delegated ......
  • Establishing a buffer zone: the proper balance between the First Amendment religion clauses in the context of neutral zoning regulations.
    • United States
    • University of Pennsylvania Law Review Vol. 149 No. 5, May 2001
    • May 1, 2001
    ...(1994) (stating that a state preference for religion over irreligion is prohibited by the Establishment Clause); Sch. Dist. v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 216 (1963) (" IT]his Court has rejected unequivocally the contention that the Establishment Clause forbids only governmental preference of on......
  • Nonbelievers and Government Speech
    • United States
    • Iowa Law Review No. 97-2, January 2012
    • January 1, 2012
    ...it make them exercise any religion”). 366. Exodus 20:3 (internal quotation marks omitted). 367. Sch. Dist. of Abington Twp. v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 319–20 (1963) (Stewart, J., dissenting) (“What our Constitution indispensably protects is the freedom of each of us, be he Jew or Agnostic, C......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
1 provisions
  • 4 U.S.C. § 4 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag; Manner of Delivery
    • United States
    • US Code 2021 Edition Title 4. Flag and Seal, Seat of Government, and the States Chapter 1. The Flag
    • January 1, 2021
    ...United States."(11) On June 17, 1963, in the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963), in which compulsory school prayer was held unconstitutional, Justices Goldberg and Harlan, concurring in the decision, stated: 'But un......

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT