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The Associated Press State & Local Wire
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March 3, 2005, Thursday, BC cycle
SECTION: State and Regional
LENGTH: 384 words
HEADLINE: Some major church-state cases
BYLINE: By The Associated Press

Some major church-state cases:

• 1947: Everson v. Board of Education said a state may not pass laws "which aid one religion" or "prefer one religion over another."
• 1971: Lemon v. Kurtzman created a three-prong test for determining violations of the First Amendment prohibition of any law establishing religion. To withstand a challenge, the law or policy must have a secular purpose, must neither advance nor inhibit religion and must not foster an excessive entanglement with religion.
• 1980: Stone v. Graham struck down a Kentucky law requiring Ten Commandments displays in public classrooms, ruling that it was "plainly religious in nature."
• 1983: Marsh v. Chambers concluded that legislative prayer was constitutional because it had "become part of the fabric of our society" and represented a "tolerable acknowledgment of beliefs widely held among the people of this country."
• 1984: Lynch v. Donnelly allowed a nativity scene to be included in a city's multifaceted holiday display. In a concurring opinion, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor proposed a test to determine whether the government was endorsing or disapproving of religion.
• 1989: County of Allegheny v. ACLU prohibited the display of a creche at a county courthouse, relying on the endorsement test proposed by O'Connor five years earlier. O'Connor had said that endorsement sends a message to "nonadherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members of the political community."
• 1992: Lee v. Weisman found the practice of including invocations and benedictions at public school graduation ceremonies is unconstitutional. The prayers are unduly coercive and pressure students to participate in or show respect during prayers, the court said.
• 2002: Zelman v. Simmons-Harris ruled that religiously affiliated schools may participate in taxpayer-funded tuition voucher programs.
• 2004: Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow asked whether the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance recited at public schools violated church-state separation. The court sidestepped the question, ruling the father who brought the case did not have standing because he did not have custody of his young daughter.
  
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