The legal aspects of religious instruction in public schools

School boards and school administrators face a continuing problem today in the making and implementing of policy dealing with religion and religious instruction in the public school setting. In the first century and a half of American educational history, religion played an integral part in the public school curriculum. Beginning in the 1940s, many customary public education practices came under fire by various religious sects and civil liberty groups. As various constituencies challenged religious instruction practices in public schools, courts ultimately had to settle the disputes. Judicial decisions in the 1940s and 1950s established a new religious instruction philosophy in the public schools. In the 1940s, courts rendered more conservative decisions in First Amendment religious freedom cases. Judicial decisions developed the position that religious instruction that tended to advance religion could not take place in public school settings