Alabama Voices: Combining state, religion a folly of man
Sep. 7, 2013 4:28 PM
Written by Brandt Ayers
Two scenes, one contemporary and one historic:
Scene I: A devoutly Christian couple is sorting bills on the kitchen table, the husband picks up the invoice for their two children’s private school tuition. He lets it drop into the pile, remarking, “We’d be able to afford a vacation this year if they hadn’t taken God out of the public schools.”
Scene II: Opening the final session of the U.S. Supreme Court, June 21, 1962, Solicitor General Archibald Cox addresses Chief Justice Warren, noting that this is Justice Hugo Black’s 25th term on the court, to which the chief responds warmly. The light on the dais illuminates the Alabamian’s slim face, smiling broadly.
After the brief ceremony, the Clay County native, raised in a rural Baptist tradition and who had taught adult Bible classes in Birmingham and Washington, read his decision for a 6-1 majority court in Engle v. Vitale, which bans government from imposing its version of prayer on public schools.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20130908/OPINION0101/309080003/Alabama-Voices-Combining-state-religion-folly-man
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0370_0421_ZS.html
