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How One Young Man Defied Tradition and Sparked the Battle over School Prayer
University of Michigan Press
July 2007
On Sale: July 11, 2007
406 pages
ISBN: 0472108379
EAN: 9780472108374
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction History
Great legal decisions often result from the heroic actions
of average citizens. Ellery’s Protest is the story of how
one student’s objection to mandatory school prayer and Bible
reading led to one of the most controversial court cases of
the twentieth century—and a decision that still reverberates
in the battle over the role of religion in public life. Abington School District v. Schempp began its journey
through the nation’s courts in 1956, when sixteen-year-old
Ellery Schempp protested his public school’s compulsory
prayer and Bible-reading period by reading silently from the
Koran. Ejected from class for his actions, Schempp sued the
school district. The Supreme Court’s decision in his favor
was one of the most important rulings on religious freedom
in our nation’s history. It prompted a conservative backlash
that continues to this day, in the skirmishes over school
prayer, the teaching of creationism and intelligent design,
and the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance with the
phrase “under God.†Author Stephen D. Solomon tells the fascinating personal and
legal drama of the Schempp case: the family’s struggle
against the ugly reactions of neighbors, and the impassioned
courtroom clashes as brilliant lawyers on both sides argued
about the meaning of religious freedom. But Schempp was not
the only case challenging religious exercises in the schools
at the time, and Ellery’s Protest describes the race to the
Supreme Court among the attorneys for four such cases,
including one involving the colorful atheist Madalyn Murray. Solomon also explores the political, cultural, and religious
roots of the controversy. Contrary to popular belief,
liberal justices did not kick God out of the public schools.
Bitter conflict over school Bible reading had long divided
Protestants and Catholics in the United States. Eventually,
it was the American people themselves who removed most
religious exercises from public education as a more
religiously diverse nation chose tolerance over
sectarianism. Ellery’s Protest offers a vivid account of the
case that embodied this change, and a reminder that
conservative justices of the 1950s and 60s not only signed
on to the Schempp decision, but strongly endorsed the
separation of church and state.
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