Significance: This case further defined the separation of church and state. The Supreme Court ruled that holding religion classes during school hours on public school property violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment, even if those classes were optional and taught by privately funded instructors.
Background: In 1940 the Champaign Council on Religious Education received permission from the board of education in Champaign, Illinois, to offer religious instruction to students whose parents had given their written permission. The classes were taught by Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant instructors who were privately paid, and the classes were held during school hours. In 1944 fifth-grader James Terry McCollum chose not to attend the religious education classes, continuing instead with his regular classwork. This subjected him to embarrassment and teasing from other students. His mother complained, and later brought suit against the school board, charging that the segregation of students into different religious groups for instructional purposes violated the First Amendment.
Decision: This case was argued on December 8, 1947, and decided on March 8, 1948, by a vote of 8 to 1. Justice Hugo Black spoke for the Court, and Justice Stanley Reed dissented. The Court ruled against the school board, indicating that to provide religious instruction during school hours and on school property came perilously close to the establishment of religion, thus violating the First Amendment. Although students did have the option not to take the classes, pressures to attend are natural to such situations. In addition to the promptings of others, some students may experience the mere presence of these classes as a pressure to attend, even if it meant receiving instruction in a religious faith other than their own.
Excerpt from the Opinion of the Court: “Separation means separation, not something less. [Thomas] Jefferson’s metaphor [comparison] in describing the relation between Church and State speaks of a ‘wall of separation,’ not of a fine line easily overstepped. . . . If nowhere else, in the relation between Church and State, ‘good fences make good neighbors.’ ”
