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ABSTRACT Supreme Court Decisions and Public Opinion Concerning First Amendment Religious Liberties, 1947-2011 Tracy L. Cook, Ph

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ABSTRACT Supreme Court Decisions and Public Opinion Concerning First Amendment Religious Liberties, 1947-2011 Tracy L. Cook, Ph ABSTRACT Supreme Court Decisions and Public Opinion Concerning First Amendment Religious Liberties, 1947-2011 Tracy L. Cook, Ph.D. Committee Chairperson: Jerold L. Waltman, Ph.D. It has often been noted that the Supreme Court’s decisions regarding prayer and Bible reading in public schools are inconsistent with public opinion. This is in contrast to the overall findings of congruence between the Court’s decisions and public opinion more generally. However, no study has provided a comprehensive view of the relationship specifically for the Court’s First Amendment religious liberty jurisprudence. This research analyzes the relationship between Supreme Court decisions and public opinion concerning the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause. Using nationally representative public opinion polls as evidence of public opinion, the results of this study are that, generally speaking, the Court has issued opinions that have been consistent with public opinion in a majority of its decisions dealing with the First Amendment’s religion clauses. In addition, trend analysis denotes the possibility that consistency is slightly higher. Further, when a clear public opinion expression is present (at least fifty-five percent of public opinion supports a position on an issue) the level of congruence between the Court’s decisions and public opinion is almost seventy percent. While the Court is inconsistent with public opinion on some issues, primarily regarding stand-alone displays of religious symbols on government property and prayer at school events, these issues appear to be the exception. Overall, the Court has shown a general level of agreement with public opinion in its decisions concerning the First Amendment’s religion clauses. Supreme Court Decisions and Public Opinion Concerning First Amendment Religious Liberties, 1947-2011 by Tracy L. Cook, B.A., M.A. A Dissertation Approved by the Institute of Church-State Studies ___________________________________ Robyn L. Driskell, Ph.D., Interim Director Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Baylor University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Approved by the Dissertation Committee ___________________________________ Jerold L. Waltman, Ph.D., Chairperson ___________________________________ Charles A. McDaniel, Ph.D. ___________________________________ Patrick J. Flavin, Ph.D. ___________________________________ Barry G. Hankins, Ph.D. ___________________________________ William A. Mitchell, Ph.D. Accepted by the Graduate School May 2012 ___________________________________ J. Larry Lyon, Ph.D., Dean Page bearing signatures is kept on file in the Graduate School. Copyright © 2012 by Tracy L. Cook All rights reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................. xi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................ xii CHAPTER ONE. Introduction ...........................................................................................1 Brief Background.....................................................................................................7 Government and Religion............................................................................7 The Bill of Rights.......................................................................................18 Supreme Court Interpretation ....................................................................23 Separationism versus Accommodationism................................................27 Methodology..........................................................................................................29 Concluding Remarks..............................................................................................35 CHAPTER TWO. Literature Review ...............................................................................39 Background............................................................................................................39 The Relationship between Public Opinion and Public Policy ...............................40 The Relationship between Public Opinion and Supreme Court Decisions............43 Public Opinion and the Supreme Court’s First Amendment Religion Cases ........58 CHAPTER THREE. Religion in Public School ...............................................................61 Introduction............................................................................................................61 v Religion in Public Schools.....................................................................................65 McCollum v. Board of Education (1948) and Zorach v. Clauson (1952)...............................................................................66 Engel v. Vitale (1962) ................................................................................68 Abington School District v. Schempp (1963).............................................79 Stone v. Graham (1980).............................................................................83 Wallace v. Jaffree (1985)...........................................................................84 Epperson v. Arkansas (1968) and Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) ...............89 Prayer at School Events .........................................................................................97 Lee v. Weisman (1992)...............................................................................97 Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000) ................................99 Discussion and Conclusion..................................................................................102 CHAPTER FOUR. Religious Expressions and Government Property ..........................108 Introduction..........................................................................................................108 Public School Forums..........................................................................................110 Court Cases ..............................................................................................111 Public Opinion .........................................................................................115 Government Sponsored Displays of Religious Holiday Symbols .......................117 Court Cases ..............................................................................................119 Public Opinion .........................................................................................121 Displays of the Ten Commandments on Government Property ..........................126 Court Cases ..............................................................................................126 Public Opinion .........................................................................................128 vi Legislative Prayer ................................................................................................130 Discussion and Conclusion..................................................................................131 CHAPTER FIVE. Public Aid for Religion.....................................................................138 Introduction..........................................................................................................138 Government Aid for Religious Education ...........................................................141 Everson v. Board of Education (1947) ....................................................145 Board of Education v. Allen (1968) .........................................................147 Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) ......................................................................150 Agostini v. Felton (1997) and Mitchell v. Helms (2000) .........................155 Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002)...........................................................157 Government Aid to Religious Institutions of Higher Education .........................166 Government Aid for Social Services ...................................................................168 Tax Policy and Religion.......................................................................................174 Walz v. Tax Commission of City of New York (1970)..............................176 Texas Monthly v. Bullock (1989) .............................................................177 Mueller v. Allen (1983)............................................................................178 Discussion and Conclusion..................................................................................182 CHAPTER SIX. Free Exercise.......................................................................................188 Introduction..........................................................................................................188 Pledge of Allegiance............................................................................................195 Religious Tests for Office....................................................................................199 Torcaso v. Watkins (1961) .......................................................................199 vii McDaniel v. Paty (1978)..........................................................................202 Tax Exempt Status ...............................................................................................204 United States v. Christian
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