## Facts

- Pennsylvania law required public schools to begin the day by reading at least ten verses from the Holy Bible “without comment,” with an excusal mechanism upon written parental request.
- Edward Schempp sued on behalf of his school-aged children, alleging the required Bible-reading exercises violated the First Amendment as applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
- In Baltimore, a school board rule required daily opening exercises consisting of reading a chapter from the Bible and/or reciting the Lord’s Prayer; an opt-out provision was later added.
- Madalyn Murray and her son challenged the Baltimore practice; Maryland courts upheld it.
- A three-judge federal district court struck down the Pennsylvania statute as unconstitutional; the Supreme Court consolidated the Pennsylvania and Maryland cases for review.

## Issues

1. Whether state laws or public school policies requiring daily Bible readings and/or recitation of the Lord’s Prayer in public schools violate the Establishment Clause, as incorporated against the states by the Fourteenth Amendment.
2. Whether an opt-out procedure for students excused upon parental request cures any Establishment Clause violation.
3. What standard governs whether a challenged enactment or policy improperly advances or inhibits religion.

## Decision

- The Court held, 8–1, that public schools may not require Bible passages to be read or the Lord’s Prayer to be recited as part of daily exercises, even with an opt-out mechanism.
- The Court affirmed the judgment invalidating the Pennsylvania practice and reversed the Maryland judgment upholding the Baltimore practice, remanding for further proceedings consistent with its ruling.
- The Court reasoned that the challenged practices were religious exercises sponsored by the state and therefore inconsistent with the constitutional requirement of governmental neutrality toward religion.

## Legal Principles

- The Establishment Clause applies to state and local governments through the Fourteenth Amendment.
- A challenged law or policy violates the Establishment Clause if its purpose or its primary effect is to advance or inhibit religion.
- Government must remain neutral toward religion, neither aiding nor opposing it; state-organized devotional exercises in public schools breach that neutrality.
- An excusal or opt-out provision does not eliminate the constitutional defect when the state sponsors and structures a religious exercise.
- Objective study of religion or the Bible as part of a secular educational program may be permissible; devotional use in a state-directed program is not.

## Conclusion

The Court invalidated state-sponsored Bible reading and prayer in public schools, holding that officially required devotional exercises violate the Establishment Clause regardless of parental opt-out procedures, while leaving room for objective academic study of religion within a secular curriculum.


Sch. Dist. of Abington Twp. v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963)