The public role of religion in American life, long a challenging issue for the Supreme Court in its interpretation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, commanded nationwide attention in 1984 when a lawsuit was brought against Pawtucket, Rhode Island, for its erection of a nativity scene in the center of the city’s downtown shopping district. Prior to the arrival of Lynch v. Donnelly, the Supreme Court had rendered decisions that prohibited public schools from orchestrating prayer, posting the Ten Commandments and organizing a moment of silence even if it did not specifically authorize prayer. Those practices, with major implications for the separation of church and state, violated the First Amendment’s (and the 14th Amendment’s, by virtue of Incorporation Doctrine) Establishment Clause, which provided “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Nativity scenes, which swell the emotions and religious beliefs of Christians, were a commonplace throughout the nation. Did public display of a Christmas Creche, a sacred Christian symbol, violate the First Amendment? In Lynch v. Donnelly, a bitterly divided Court, in a 5-4 opinion written by Chief Justice Warren Burger, significantly lowered the wall separating church and state and upheld the public display of the […]
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