(2 of 5)
Words of the Author. In a decision written by Justice Hugo L. Black (see box*) and joined in by four other members, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. Justice William O. Douglas wrote a separate concurring opinion. Only one member, Justice Potter Stewart, dissented from the ruling.* Said the majority decision: The Constitution's "prohibition against laws respecting an establishment of religion must at least mean that in this country it is no part of the business of government to compose official prayers for any group of the American people to recite as part of a religious program carried on by government." The Founding Fathers, Justice Black went on, put the clause prohibiting "establishment of religion" into the Constitution "to stand as a guarantee that neither the power nor the prestige of the Federal Government would be used to control, support, or influence the kinds of prayer the American people can say." That prohibition was later extended to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment, which declares: "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States."
The First Amendment, said the court, was not written to destroy religion, but to protect religion against government. "It is neither sacrilegious nor antireligious to say that each separate government in this country should stay out of the business of writing or sanctioning official prayers and leave that purely religious function to the people themselves and to those the people choose to look to for religious guidance.
"To those who may subscribe to the view that because the Regents' official prayer is so brief and general there can be no danger to religious freedom in its governmental establishment, it may be appropriate to say in the words of James Madison, the author of the First Amendment: 'It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties.' "
"Shocked & Frightened." The Board of Regents accepted the verdict, declared that the decision "is now the law of the land, and it will be so recognized by all school authorities in the state." Jewish religious leaders who commented on the decision were almost all favorable toward it. A group of 13 Unitarian Universalist ministers in New York City issued a statement declaring that the decision was not only constitutionally "sound'' but also "in the interest of religion.'' Said the Rev. William B. Sperry of Detroit's Episcopal Christ Church: "It is wrong for the churches to expect the government to implement their teachings." Wrote Harold E. Fey, editor of the Protestant Christian Century: "The High Court has not outlawed prayer . . . The only thing the court has outlawed is transgression by any official, including educational officials, of the proper separation between church and state."