In these desperate days, and desperate times, it is easy to see that the great history of mankind is no “black and white” story. As we continuously expand both our population and our minds, we have begun to understand the human physique on a far more universal level; alas, in this American Society, these ideas of “mental expansion” and “tolerance of intolerance” is far from sight in these modern hours. Since the great American Constitution had been written, many people have decoded its ideas far differently from each other. The First Amendment in the American Constitution is the most debated, and most cherished law on this land; however, the Amendments are discerned in different ways, thus causing unfair judgments for many defendants and prosecutors in a court case. In my essay I will be discussing two court cases, which involve the “freedom of religion” clause of the First Amendment.
On February 27, 1963, the case of Abington School District v. Schempp was filed and brought to the Supreme Court’s attention; this case was brought to the Court’s attention by Representative L. Mendell Rivers, who was enraged by a previous decision made by the Supreme Court in the case of Engel v. Vitale. Essentially, Mendell Rivers accused the Court of “legislating-they never adjudicate- with one eye on the Kremlin and the other on the NAACP,” arguing the Court’s bias. Representative L. Mendell Rivers was among many who had sprung against the courts decision of Engel v. Vitale, these people include: Cardinal Spellman, Representative Frank Becker, and so on. Abington School District v. Schempp was brought to the Court’s attention in order to reverse the decision made in Engel v. Vitale. The decision made for Abington School District v. Schempp was a large step forward into “freedom of religion” cases. The case was argued by the Schempps- a non-Jewish family who objected to a Pennsylvania law; this law required that ten verses of the Bible be read at the morning of each public...