What role should religion have in public life and in government? These are the questions America’s founding fathers faced when drafting the constitution. And it’s a question that is still examined today. This First Amendment protects the free exercise of religion while preventing the establishment of religion. These competing ideas have created a constitutional conflict when individuals want to exercise their religion in places funded by the government, like public schools. Listen to learn how this line was tested when a 6-year-old student wanted his mother to read his favorite book, the Bible, to his class.
Story Length: 3:43
© 2005 National Public Radio, Inc. Used with the permission of NPR. All rights reserved.
AIR DATE: 05/22/2005
March 13, 2015
2:19
The First Amendment protects freedom of religion and freedom of expression, but what about religious expression? The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case where religious expression and company policy clash. When a 17-year-old Muslim woman applied to work at Abercrombie and Fitch, her applicant score was downgraded because she wore a headscarf to her interview. Abercrombie argues that wearing caps is against their “Look Policy” and that Samantha Elauf should have asked for an accommodation. Elauf argues that Abercrombie broke the law banning religious discrimination in employment. Listen to learn more about this First Amendment debate.
Update: The Supreme Court ruled in an 8-to-1 decision in favor of a Muslim woman who was denied a job because of her headscarf.
Read MoreJune 19, 2014
7:11
The Second Amendment is only one sentence long. It allows for individuals to own and use guns. But since its inception, the meaning has been debated. There is still no public consensus around its meaning. Listen to this public radio story to learn more.
Read MoreJune 15, 2014
4:10
School sponsored prayer was outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1963. The case that led to this decision began in November 1956 when a 16-year-old schoolboy protested his public school’s mandatory prayer and Bible reading period by reading silently from the Koran and refusing to stand for the Lord’s Prayer. This simple act of resistance led to a huge change in the way public schools interact with religion. In the early 1960s, 40% of school districts in the U.S. had mandatory Bible reading and prayer; it is now unconstitutional for any public school to sponsor prayer. However, there continue to be challenges regarding prayer and religion in public schools. In 2012, a Rhode Island teen complained about a prayer banner at her high school. Listen to learn how the community and courts responded to her challenge.
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