Separation_of_church_and_state_in_the_United_States

context: Jefferson's metaphor of a wall of separation has been cited repeatedly by the U.S. Supreme Court. In Reynolds v. United States (1879) the Court wrote that Jefferson's comments "may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the [First] Amendment." In Everson v. Board of Education (1947), Justice Hugo Black wrote: "In the words of Thomas Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect a wall of separation between church and state."
qas: answers: text: Jefferson
question: Who made a metaphor about a wall of separation?

answers: text: metaphor
question: What has the U.S. Supreme Court repeatedly cited?

answers: text: 1879
question: When was the case of Reynolds v. United States?

answers: text: authoritative declaration
question: What did the Court write about Jefferson's comments as it related to the scope and effect of the First Amendment?

answers: text: a wall of separation between church and state
question: What was the clause against establishment of religion by law intended to erect?

context: Many early immigrant groups traveled to America to worship freely, particularly after the English Civil War and religious conflict in France and Germany. They included nonconformists like the Puritans, who were Protestant Christians fleeing religious persecution from the Anglican King of England. Despite a common background, the groups' views on religious toleration were mixed. While some such as Roger Williams of Rhode Island and William Penn of Pennsylvania ensured the protection of religious minorities within their colonies, others like the Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony had established churches. The Dutch colony of New Netherland established the Dutch Reformed Church and outlawed all other worship, though enforcement was sparse. Religious conformity was desired partly for financial reasons: the established Church was responsible for poverty relief, putting dissenting churches at a significant disadvantage.
qas: answers: text: to worship freely
question: What was one of the reason early immigrant groups came to America?

answers: text: religious persecution
question: What were Protestant Christians fleeing from?

answers: text: King of England
question: Who was persecuting the Puritans?

answers: text: religious minorities
question: What did William Penn ensure the protection of in his colony?

answers: text: churches
question: What did the Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony both establish?

context: ^Note 2: in 1789 the Georgia Constitution was amended as follows: "Article IV. Section 10. No person within this state shall, upon any pretense, be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshipping God in any manner agreeable to his own conscience, nor be compelled to attend any place of worship contrary to his own faith and judgment; nor shall he ever be obliged to pay tithes, taxes, or any other rate, for the building or repairing any place of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes to be right, or hath voluntarily engaged to do. No one religious society shall ever be established in this state, in preference to another; nor shall any person be denied the enjoyment of any civil right merely on account of his religious principles."
qas: answers: text: worshipping God
question: What may no person within Georgia be deprived of the privilege of doing in any manner agreeable to them?

answers: text: 1789
question: When was the Georgia Constitution amended to add Article IV, Section 10?

answers: text: attend any place of worship contrary to his own faith and judgment
question: What can a citizen of Georgia not be compelled to do?

answers: text: No one religious society
question: What is constitutionally forbidden to be established in the state of Georgia?

answers: text: any civil right
question: What will no person be denied the enjoyment of in Georgia based on their religious principles?

context: ^Note 5: The North Carolina Constitution of 1776 disestablished the Anglican church, but until 1835 the NC Constitution allowed only Protestants to hold public office. From 1835-1876 it allowed only Christians (including Catholics) to hold public office. Article VI, Section 8 of the current NC Constitution forbids only atheists from holding public office. Such clauses were held by the United States Supreme Court to be unenforceable in the 1961 case of Torcaso v. Watkins, when the court ruled unanimously that such clauses constituted a religious test incompatible with First and Fourteenth Amendment protections.
qas: answers: text: 1776
question: When did the North Carolina Constitution disestablish the Anglican church?

answers: text: Protestants
question: What religious denomination was the only one allowed to hold public office in NC until 1835?

answers: text: Christians
question: What category did the NC Constitution broaden the people allowed to hold public office to from 1835 to 1876?

answers: text: Article VI, Section 8
question: What part of the NC Constitution forbids atheists from holding public office?

answers: text: 1961
question: When did the U.S. Supreme Court rule clauses forbidding people from holding public office based on their religion was unenforceable? 

context: The Flushing Remonstrance shows support for separation of church and state as early as the mid-17th century, stating their opposition to religious persecution of any sort: "The law of love, peace and liberty in the states extending to Jews, Turks and Egyptians, as they are considered sons of Adam, which is the glory of the outward state of Holland, so love, peace and liberty, extending to all in Christ Jesus, condemns hatred, war and bondage." The document was signed December 27, 1657 by a group of English citizens in America who were affronted by persecution of Quakers and the religious policies of the Governor of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant. Stuyvesant had formally banned all religions other than the Dutch Reformed Church from being practiced in the colony, in accordance with the laws of the Dutch Republic. The signers indicated their "desire therefore in this case not to judge lest we be judged, neither to condemn least we be condemned, but rather let every man stand or fall to his own Master." Stuyvesant fined the petitioners and threw them in prison until they recanted. However, John Bowne allowed the Quakers to meet in his home. Bowne was arrested, jailed, and sent to the Netherlands for trial; the Dutch court exonerated Bowne.
qas: answers: text: The Flushing Remonstrance
question: What shows support for the separation of church and state as early as the mid-17th century?

answers: text: religious persecution of any sort
question: What were the Remonstrance opposed to?

answers: text: December 27, 1657
question: When did a group of English citizens sign a document condemning hatred, war and bondage?

answers: text: Quakers
question: Who were the signers of the document affronted by the persecution of?

answers: text: religions
question: What had Peter Stuyvesant formally banned all of other than the Dutch Reformed Church?

context: There were also opponents to the support of any established church even at the state level. In 1773, Isaac Backus, a prominent Baptist minister in New England, wrote against a state sanctioned religion, saying: "Now who can hear Christ declare, that his kingdom is, not of this world, and yet believe that this blending of church and state together can be pleasing to him?" He also observed that when "church and state are separate, the effects are happy, and they do not at all interfere with each other: but where they have been confounded together, no tongue nor pen can fully describe the mischiefs that have ensued." Thomas Jefferson's influential Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was enacted in 1786, five years before the Bill of Rights.
qas: answers: text: opponents
question: What did an established church, even at the state level, have?

answers: text: Baptist minister
question: What was Issac Backus' profession?

answers: text: New England
question: What region did Isaac Backus come from?

answers: text: 1773
question: When did Isaac Backus write against a state sanctioned religion?

answers: text: 1786
question: When was Thomas Jefferson's Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom enacted?

context: The phrase "[A] hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world" was first used by Baptist theologian Roger Williams, the founder of the colony of Rhode Island, in his 1644 book The Bloody Tenent of Persecution. The phrase was later used by Thomas Jefferson as a description of the First Amendment and its restriction on the legislative branch of the federal government, in an 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists (a religious minority concerned about the dominant position of the Congregationalist church in Connecticut):
qas: answers: text: Baptist theologian
question: Who was Roger Williams?

answers: text: "[A] hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world"
question: What phrase did Roger Williams first use?

answers: text: Rhode Island
question: What colony was Roger Williams the founder of?

answers: text: 1644
question: When was the book The Bloody Tenent of Persecution published?

answers: text: Thomas Jefferson
question: Who used William's phrase as a description of the First Amendment and its restriction on the legislative branch?

context: Jefferson and James Madison's conceptions of separation have long been debated. Jefferson refused to issue Proclamations of Thanksgiving sent to him by Congress during his presidency, though he did issue a Thanksgiving and Prayer proclamation as Governor of Virginia. Madison issued four religious proclamations while President, but vetoed two bills on the grounds they violated the first amendment. On the other hand, both Jefferson and Madison attended religious services at the Capitol. Years before the ratification of the Constitution, Madison contended "Because if Religion be exempt from the authority of the Society at large, still less can it be subject to that of the Legislative Body." After retiring from the presidency, Madison wrote of "total separation of the church from the state." " "Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion & Govt in the Constitution of the United States," Madison wrote, and he declared, "practical distinction between Religion and Civil Government is essential to the purity of both, and as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States." In a letter to Edward Livingston Madison further expanded, "We are teaching the world the great truth that Govts. do better without Kings & Nobles than with them. The merit will be doubled by the other lesson that Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Govt." Madison's original draft of the Bill of Rights had included provisions binding the States, as well as the Federal Government, from an establishment of religion, but the House did not pass them.[citation needed]
qas: answers: text: Jefferson and James Madison's
question: Whose conceptions of separation have long been argued over?

answers: text: Proclamations of Thanksgiving
question: What did Jefferson refuse to issue, when it was sent to him by Congress during his presidency?

answers: text: at the Capitol
question: Where did both Jefferson and Madison attend religious services?

answers: text: four
question: How many religious proclamations did Madison issue while President?

answers: text: practical distinction
question: What is essential to the purity of both religion and civil government?

context: Jefferson's opponents said his position was the destruction and the governmental rejection of Christianity, but this was a caricature. In setting up the University of Virginia, Jefferson encouraged all the separate sects to have preachers of their own, though there was a constitutional ban on the State supporting a Professorship of Divinity, arising from his own Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. Some have argued that this arrangement was "fully compatible with Jefferson's views on the separation of church and state;" however, others point to Jefferson's support for a scheme in which students at the University would attend religious worship each morning as evidence that his views were not consistent with strict separation. Still other scholars, such as Mark David Hall, attempt to sidestep the whole issue by arguing that American jurisprudence focuses too narrowly on this one Jeffersonian letter while failing to account for other relevant history
qas: answers: text: destruction
question: What did Jefferson's opponents accuse him of wanting to do to Christianity? 

answers: text: preachers
question: What did Jefferson encourage the separate sects at the University of Virginia to have of their own?

answers: text: Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
question: How was the state banned from supporting a Professorship of Divinity?

answers: text: attend religious worship each morning
question: What scheme did Jefferson apparently support when it came to University students?

answers: text: one Jeffersonian letter
question: What does Mark David Hall think people focus on way too much?

context: Jefferson's letter entered American jurisprudence in the 1878 Mormon polygamy case Reynolds v. U.S., in which the court cited Jefferson and Madison, seeking a legal definition for the word religion. Writing for the majority, Justice Stephen Johnson Field cited Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptists to state that "Congress was deprived of all legislative power over mere opinion, but was left free to reach actions which were in violation of social duties or subversive of good order." Considering this, the court ruled that outlawing polygamy was constitutional.
qas: answers: text: 1878
question: When did Jefferson's letter enter American jurisprudence?

answers: text: Reynolds v. U.S.
question: What was the case that used Jefferson's letter?

answers: text: Mormon polygamy
question: What was the topic of Reynolds v. U.S.?

answers: text: legal definition for the word religion
question: What was the court seeking, in using Jefferson's letter?

answers: text: constitutional
question: What did the court rule outlawing polygamy was?

context: Jefferson and Madison's approach was not the only one taken in the eighteenth century. Jefferson's Statute of Religious Freedom was drafted in opposition to a bill, chiefly supported by Patrick Henry, which would permit any Virginian to belong to any denomination, but which would require him to belong to some denomination and pay taxes to support it. Similarly, the Constitution of Massachusetts originally provided that "no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience... provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious worship," (Article II) but also that:
qas: answers: text: Jefferson and Madison's
question: What approach was not the only one taken in the 18th century?

answers: text: a bill
question: What did Jefferson draft his Statute of Religious Freedom in opposition to?

answers: text: Patrick Henry
question: Who was the chief supporter of the bill that got Jefferson motivated to draft his Statute?

answers: text: some denomination
question: What did Patrick Henry want to require Virginians to pay taxes to support?

answers: text: worshipping God
question: What did the Constitution of Massachusetts express no one would be restrained from doing?

context: The Duke of York had required that every community in his new lands of New York and New Jersey support some church, but this was more often Dutch Reformed, Quaker or Presbyterian, than Anglican. Some chose to support more than one church. He also ordained that the tax-payers were free, having paid his local tax, to choose their own church. The terms for the surrender of New Amsterdam had provided that the Dutch would have liberty of conscience, and the Duke, as an openly divine-right Catholic, was no friend of Anglicanism. The first Anglican minister in New Jersey arrived in 1698, though Anglicanism was more popular in New York.
qas: answers: text: some church
question: What did the Duke of York require every community in his lands to support?

answers: text: Dutch Reformed, Quaker or Presbyterian
question: Instead of Anglican, what were the churches most often supported in New York and New Jersey?

answers: text: to choose their own church
question: What were taxpayers free to do after they paid the Duke of York his local tax?

answers: text: openly divine-right Catholic,
question: Why was the Duke not a friend of Anglicanism?

answers: text: 1698
question: When did the first Anglican minister arrive in New Jersey?

context: The original charter of the Province of East Jersey had restricted membership in the Assembly to Christians; the Duke of York was fervently Catholic, and the proprietors of Perth Amboy, New Jersey were Scottish Catholic peers. The Province of West Jersey had declared, in 1681, that there should be no religious test for office. An oath had also been imposed on the militia during the French and Indian War requiring them to abjure the pretensions of the Pope, which may or may not have been applied during the Revolution. That law was replaced by 1799.
qas: answers: text: Christians
question: What did the original charter of the Province of East Jersey restrict membership in its Assembly to?

answers: text: fervently Catholic
question: What was the Duke of York's relationship to his religion described as being?

answers: text: Scottish Catholic
question: What religious sect were the proprietors of Perth Amboy?

answers: text: religious test
question: What did the Province of West Jersey specify there would not be for those running for an office, in 1681?

answers: text: 1799
question: When was an oath requiring militia to abjure the pretensions of the pope replaced?

context: The first amendment to the US Constitution states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" The two parts, known as the "establishment clause" and the "free exercise clause" respectively, form the textual basis for the Supreme Court's interpretations of the "separation of church and state" doctrine. Three central concepts were derived from the 1st Amendment which became America's doctrine for church-state separation: no coercion in religious matters, no expectation to support a religion against one's will, and religious liberty encompasses all religions. In sum, citizens are free to embrace or reject a faith, any support for religion - financial or physical - must be voluntary, and all religions are equal in the eyes of the law with no special preference or favoritism.
qas: answers: text: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"
question: What does the first amendment to the US Constitution state?

answers: text: "establishment clause"
question: What is the first part of the First Amendment know as?

answers: text: "free exercise clause"
question: What is the last part of the sentence of the First Amendment known as?

answers: text: the Supreme Court's interpretations of the "separation of church and state" doctrine.
question: What do the two clauses of the First Amendment for the basis of?

answers: text: a faith
question: What are citizens of the United States free to embrace or reject as they choose?

context: Some legal scholars, such as John Baker of LSU, theorize that Madison's initial proposed language—that Congress should make no law regarding the establishment of a "national religion"—was rejected by the House, in favor of the more general "religion" in an effort to appease the Anti-Federalists. To both the Anti-Federalists and the Federalists, the very word "national" was a cause for alarm because of the experience under the British crown. During the debate over the establishment clause, Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts took issue with Madison's language regarding whether the government was a national or federal government (in which the states retained their individual sovereignty), which Baker suggests compelled Madison to withdraw his language from the debate.
qas: answers: text: legal scholars
question: What is John Baker of LSU's profession?

answers: text: to appease the Anti-Federalists
question: Why was a more general "religion" used in the language of the First Amendment?

answers: text: because of the experience under the British crown
question: Why was the word "national" a cause for alarm to both Federalists and Anti-Federalists?

answers: text: Elbridge Gerry
question: Who took issue with Madison's language during the debate over the establishment clause?

answers: text: Massachusetts
question: What was Elbridge Gerry's constituency? 

context: Others, such as Rep. Roger Sherman of Connecticut, believed the clause was unnecessary because the original Constitution only gave Congress stated powers, which did not include establishing a national religion. Anti-Federalists such as Rep. Thomas Tucker of South Carolina moved to strike the establishment clause completely because it could preempt the religious clauses in the state constitutions. However, the Anti-Federalists were unsuccessful in persuading the House of Representatives to drop the clause from the first amendment.
qas: answers: text: Connecticut
question: Where was Representative Roger Sherman from?

answers: text: Constitution only gave Congress stated powers
question: Why did Sherman believe the establishment clause was unnecessary? 

answers: text: establishing a national religion
question: What power was not granted to Congress by the Constitution?

answers: text: religious clauses in the state constitutions
question: What was Tucker concerned the establishment clause could preempt?

answers: text: South Carolina
question: Where was Representative Thomas Tucker from?

context: The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (Amendment XIV) is one of the post-Civil War amendments, intended to secure rights for former slaves. It includes the due process and equal protection clauses among others. The amendment introduces the concept of incorporation of all relevant federal rights against the states. While it has not been fully implemented, the doctrine of incorporation has been used to ensure, through the Due Process Clause and Privileges and Immunities Clause, the application of most of the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights to the states.
qas: answers: text: post-Civil War
question: When was the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution created?

answers: text: secure rights for former slaves
question: What was the intent of the 14th Amendment?

answers: text: incorporation of all relevant federal rights against the states
question: What does the 14th Amendment also introduce the concept of?

answers: text: due process and equal protection clauses
question: What clauses does the 14th Amendment include?

answers: text: application of most of the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights to the states
question: What has the doctrine of incorporation been used to ensure?

context: The incorporation of the First Amendment establishment clause in the landmark case of Everson v. Board of Education has impacted the subsequent interpretation of the separation of church and state in regard to the state governments. Although upholding the state law in that case, which provided for public busing to private religious schools, the Supreme Court held that the First Amendment establishment clause was fully applicable to the state governments. A more recent case involving the application of this principle against the states was Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet (1994).
qas: answers: text: Everson v. Board of Education
question: What landmark case has impacted all subsequent interpretations of the separation of church and state in regard to state governments?

answers: text: state law
question: What did the Supreme Court uphold in Everson v. Board of Education?

answers: text: state governments
question: What did the Supreme Court hold the First Amendment establishment clause was fully applicable to?

answers: text: Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet
question: What was a recent case involving the application of the principle of the establishment clause against states?

answers: text: 1994
question: When was the case of v. Grumet?

context: Jefferson's concept of "separation of church and state" first became a part of Establishment Clause jurisprudence in Reynolds v. U.S., 98 U.S. 145 (1878). In that case, the court examined the history of religious liberty in the US, determining that while the constitution guarantees religious freedom, "The word 'religion' is not defined in the Constitution. We must go elsewhere, therefore, to ascertain its meaning, and nowhere more appropriately, we think, than to the history of the times in the midst of which the provision was adopted." The court found that the leaders in advocating and formulating the constitutional guarantee of religious liberty were James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. Quoting the "separation" paragraph from Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists, the court concluded that, "coming as this does from an acknowledged leader of the advocates of the measure, it may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the amendment thus secured."
qas: answers: text: Establishment Clause
question: What did Jefferson's concept of 'separation of church and state" became part of what jurisprudence?

answers: text: Reynolds v. U.S., 98 U.S. 145
question: What case was Jefferson's concept apropos to?

answers: text: freedom
question: What does the constitution guarantee when it comes to religion?

answers: text: religion
question: What word is not defined in the Constitution?

answers: text: the Danbury Baptists
question: Who had Jefferson's letter been sent to?

context: The centrality of the "separation" concept to the Religion Clauses of the Constitution was made explicit in Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1 (1947), a case dealing with a New Jersey law that allowed government funds to pay for transportation of students to both public and Catholic schools. This was the first case in which the court applied the Establishment Clause to the laws of a state, having interpreted the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as applying the Bill of Rights to the states as well as the federal legislature. Citing Jefferson, the court concluded that "The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach."
qas: answers: text: 1947
question: When was the centrality of the "separation" concept to the Religion Clauses of the Constitution made explicit?

answers: text: government funds to pay for transportation of students to both public and Catholic schools
question: What was the topic of the Everson v. Board of Education?

answers: text: Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1
question: What case was the concept relevant?

answers: text: court applied the Establishment Clause to the laws of a state
question: What was the case of Everson v. Board of Education the first instance of?

answers: text: high and impregnable
question: How must the wall separating church and state be kept?

context: While the decision (with four dissents) ultimately upheld the state law allowing the funding of transportation of students to religious schools, the majority opinion (by Justice Hugo Black) and the dissenting opinions (by Justice Wiley Blount Rutledge and Justice Robert H. Jackson) each explicitly stated that the Constitution has erected a "wall between church and state" or a "separation of Church from State": their disagreement was limited to whether this case of state funding of transportation to religious schools breached that wall. Rutledge, on behalf of the four dissenting justices, took the position that the majority had indeed permitted a violation of the wall of separation in this case: "Neither so high nor so impregnable today as yesterday is the wall raised between church and state by Virginia's great statute of religious freedom and the First Amendment, now made applicable to all the states by the Fourteenth." Writing separately, Justice Jackson argued that "[T]here are no good grounds upon which to support the present legislation. In fact, the undertones of the opinion, advocating complete and uncompromising separation of Church from State, seem utterly discordant with its conclusion yielding support to their commingling in educational matters."
qas: answers: text: state law
question: What did the decision ultimately uphold?

answers: text: transportation of students to religious schools
question: What was the state allowed to continue to fund?

answers: text: that the Constitution has erected a "wall between church and state"
question: What did both the majority and dissenting opinions reiterate?

answers: text: that wall
question: What was the disagreement between the Justices over whether funding breached what?

answers: text: the present legislation
question: What did Justice Jackson argue there were no grounds upon which to support what?

context: In 1962, the Supreme Court addressed the issue of officially-sponsored prayer or religious recitations in public schools. In Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962), the Court, by a vote of 6-1, determined it unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and require its recitation in public schools, even when the prayer is non-denominational and students may excuse themselves from participation. (The prayer required by the New York State Board of Regents prior to the Court's decision consisted of: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our country. Amen.") As the Court stated:
qas: answers: text: 1962
question: When did the Supreme Court address the issue of officially sponsored prayer in public schools?

answers: text: Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421
question: What was the case in 1962 where the Supreme Court addressed the issue of officially sponsored school prayer?

answers: text: 6-1
question: By what vote did the Supreme Court determine it unconstitutional for state official to compose an official school prayer?

answers: text: unconstitutional
question: Even if a prayer is non-denominational it's still considered what?

context: The court noted that it "is a matter of history that this very practice of establishing governmentally composed prayers for religious services was one of the reasons which caused many of our early colonists to leave England and seek religious freedom in America." The lone dissenter, Justice Potter Stewart, objected to the court's embrace of the "wall of separation" metaphor: "I think that the Court's task, in this as in all areas of constitutional adjudication, is not responsibly aided by the uncritical invocation of metaphors like the "wall of separation," a phrase nowhere to be found in the Constitution."
qas: answers: text: governmentally composed prayers for religious services
question: What was one of the reasons early colonists left England to seek religious freedom in America?

answers: text: Justice Potter Stewart
question: Who was the lone dissenter in the Supreme Court's ruling?

answers: text: the court's embrace of the "wall of separation" metaphor
question: What did Stewart object to?

answers: text: metaphors
question: Stewart felt the court was not responsibly aided by the uncritical invocation of what?

answers: text: the Constitution
question: Stewart pointed out that the phrase "Wall of separation" was nowhere to be found in what?

context: In Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97 (1968), the Supreme Court considered an Arkansas law that made it a crime "to teach the theory or doctrine that mankind ascended or descended from a lower order of animals," or "to adopt or use in any such institution a textbook that teaches" this theory in any school or university that received public funds. The court's opinion, written by Justice Abe Fortas, ruled that the Arkansas law violated "the constitutional prohibition of state laws respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The overriding fact is that Arkansas' law selects from the body of knowledge a particular segment which it proscribes for the sole reason that it is deemed to conflict with a particular religious doctrine; that is, with a particular interpretation of the Book of Genesis by a particular religious group." The court held that the Establishment Clause prohibits the state from advancing any religion, and that "[T]he state has no legitimate interest in protecting any or all religions from views distasteful to them." 
qas: answers: text: 1968
question: When did the case of Epperson v. Arkansas take place?

answers: text: an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
question: What did the Arkansas law violate the constitutional prohibition of state laws in respect to?

answers: text: Justice Abe Fortas
question: Who wrote the court's opinion in Epperson v. Arkansas?

answers: text: views distasteful to them
question: What does the State have no legitimate interest in protecting any or all religions from?

answers: text: that mankind ascended or descended from a lower order of animals
question: What did an Arkansas law make it a crime to teach the theory of?

context: In Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971), the court determined that a Pennsylvania state policy of reimbursing the salaries and related costs of teachers of secular subjects in private religious schools violated the Establishment Clause. The court's decision argued that the separation of church and state could never be absolute: "Our prior holdings do not call for total separation between church and state; total separation is not possible in an absolute sense. Some relationship between government and religious organizations is inevitable," the court wrote. "Judicial caveats against entanglement must recognize that the line of separation, far from being a "wall," is a blurred, indistinct, and variable barrier depending on all the circumstances of a particular relationship."
qas: answers: text: 1971
question: When was the case of Lemon v. Kurtzman?

answers: text: Pennsylvania
question: What state's policy was in question in Lemon v. Kurtzman?

answers: text: teachers of secular subjects
question: Whose salaries were being reimbursed in private religious schools?

answers: text: the Establishment Clause
question: What did the state's policy violate?

answers: text: absolute
question: What did the court's decision argue that the separation of church and state could never be?

context: Subsequent to this decision, the Supreme Court has applied a three-pronged test to determine whether government action comports with the Establishment Clause, known as the "Lemon Test". First, the law or policy must have been adopted with a neutral or non-religious purpose. Second, the principle or primary effect must be one that neither advances nor inhibits religion. Third, the statute or policy must not result in an "excessive entanglement" of government with religion. (The decision in Lemon v. Kurtzman hinged upon the conclusion that the government benefits were flowing disproportionately to Catholic schools, and that Catholic schools were an integral component of the Catholic Church's religious mission, thus the policy involved the state in an "excessive entanglement" with religion.) Failure to meet any of these criteria is a proof that the statute or policy in question violates the Establishment Clause.
qas: answers: text: three
question: How many prongs is the Supreme COurt's test to determine if a government action comports with the Establishment Clause?

answers: text: "Lemon Test"
question: What is the three-pronged test regarding the Establishment Clause know as?

answers: text: non-religious
question: To not violate the Establishment Clause, a law must be adopted with neutral or what purpose?

answers: text: religion
question: What much the primary effect of a law neither advance or inhibit?

answers: text: government with religion
question: Excessive entanglement occurs when a state policy results in a close relationship of what?

context: In 2002, a three judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that classroom recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in a California public school was unconstitutional, even when students were not compelled to recite it, due to the inclusion of the phrase "under God." In reaction to the case, Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, both houses of Congress passed measures reaffirming their support for the pledge, and condemning the panel's ruling. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court, where the case was ultimately overturned in June 2004, solely on procedural grounds not related to the substantive constitutional issue. Rather, a five-justice majority held that Newdow, a non-custodial parent suing on behalf of his daughter, lacked standing to sue.
qas: answers: text: three
question: How many judges were on the panel which held the Pledge of Allegiance in California public schools was unconstitutional?

answers: text: 2002
question: When did the three judge panel make their ruling?

answers: text: the Pledge of Allegiance
question: What did both houses of Congress pass measures reaffirming their support for?

answers: text: procedural grounds
question: Why was the case of Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow overturned?

answers: text: standing to sue
question: What did the five-justice majority hold that Newdow lacked?

context: On December 20, 2005, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in the case of ACLU v. Mercer County that the continued display of the Ten Commandments as part of a larger display on American legal traditions in a Kentucky courthouse was allowed, because the purpose of the display (educating the public on American legal traditions) was secular in nature. In ruling on the Mount Soledad cross controversy on May 3, 2006, however, a federal judge ruled that the cross on public property on Mount Soledad must be removed.
qas: answers: text: December 20, 2005
question: When did the US Court of Appeals rule in the case of ACLU v. Mercer County?

answers: text: the Ten Commandments
question: What was displayed in Kentucky courthouses?

answers: text: the cross
question: What did a federal judge rule must be removed from public property?

answers: text: May 3, 2006
question: When was a ruling handed down on the Mount Soledad cross controversy?

answers: text: secular in nature
question: Why were the displays of the ten Commandments allowed?

context: In what will be the case is Town of Greece v. Galloway, 12-696, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case regarding whether prayers at town meetings, which are allowed, must allow various faiths to lead prayer, or whether the prayers can be predominately Christian. On May 5, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of the Town of Greece by holding that the U.S. Constitution not only allows for prayer at government meetings, but also for sectarian prayers like predominately Christian prayers.
qas: answers: text: Town of Greece v. Galloway
question: What case is in regards to whether prayers at town meetings must allow various faiths?

answers: text: May 5, 2014
question: When did the Supreme Court rule on Town of Greece v. Galloway?

answers: text: 5-4
question: What was the Supreme Court's final vote in Town of Greece v. Galloway?

answers: text: Town of Greece
question: Who did the Supreme Court rule in favor of?

answers: text: sectarian prayers
question: What did the Supreme Court rule the Constitution allowed for?

context: Some scholars and organizations disagree with the notion of "separation of church and state", or the way the Supreme Court has interpreted the constitutional limitation on religious establishment. Such critics generally argue that the phrase misrepresents the textual requirements of the Constitution, while noting that many aspects of church and state were intermingled at the time the Constitution was ratified. These critics argue that the prevalent degree of separation of church and state could not have been intended by the constitutional framers. Some of the intermingling between church and state include religious references in official contexts, and such other founding documents as the United States Declaration of Independence, which references the idea of a "Creator" and "Nature's God", though these references did not ultimately appear in the Constitution nor do they mention any particular religious view of a "Creator" or "Nature's God."
qas: answers: text: separation of church and state
question: What do some organizations disagree with the notion of?

answers: text: the textual requirements of the Constitution
question: What do the critics argue the phrase misrepresents?

answers: text: constitutional limitation on religious establishment
question: What do scholars also disagree with about the way the Supreme Court has interpreted what?

answers: text: many aspects of church and state
question: What do critics note were intermingled at the time the Constitution was ratified?

answers: text: prevalent degree of separation of church and state
question: What do these critics argue couldn't have been intended by the framers of the constitution?

context: These critics of the modern separation of church and state also note the official establishment of religion in several of the states at the time of ratification, to suggest that the modern incorporation of the Establishment Clause as to state governments goes against the original constitutional intent.[citation needed] The issue is complex, however, as the incorporation ultimately bases on the passage of the 14th Amendment in 1868, at which point the first amendment's application to the state government was recognized. Many of these constitutional debates relate to the competing interpretive theories of originalism versus modern, progressivist theories such as the doctrine of the Living Constitution. Other debates center on the principle of the law of the land in America being defined not just by the Constitution's Supremacy Clause, but also by legal precedence, making an accurate reading of the Constitution subject to the mores and values of a given era, and rendering the concept of historical revisionism irrelevant when discussing the Constitution.
qas: answers: text: religion
question: Critics of modern separation of church and state note there was official establishment of what in several states at the time of ratification?

answers: text: 1868
question: When was the passage of the 14th Amendment?

answers: text: first amendment's application to the state government
question: What was recognized by the time the 14th Amendment passed?

answers: text: progressivist
question: What kind of theory is the doctrine of the Living Constitution?

answers: text: legal precedence
question: What do some debates center on the law of the land not being just defined by the Constitution's Supremacy Clause but also by what?

context: The "religious test" clause has been interpreted to cover both elected officials and appointed ones, career civil servants as well as political appointees. Religious beliefs or the lack of them have therefore not been permissible tests or qualifications with regard to federal employees since the ratification of the Constitution. Seven states, however, have language included in their Bill of Rights, Declaration of Rights, or in the body of their constitutions that require state office-holders to have particular religious beliefs, though some of these have been successfully challenged in court. These states are Texas, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
qas: answers: text: religious test
question: What clause are both elected officials and appointed ones covered by?

answers: text: Religious
question: What type of beliefs are not an allowed job qualification test for federal employees?

answers: text: Seven
question: How many states violate the religious test clause with language somewhere in their official policies?

answers: text: particular religious beliefs
question: What do states violate the clause require state office-holders to possess?

context: The required beliefs of these clauses include belief in a Supreme Being and belief in a future state of rewards and punishments. (Tennessee Constitution Article IX, Section 2 is one such example.) Some of these same states specify that the oath of office include the words "so help me God." In some cases these beliefs (or oaths) were historically required of jurors and witnesses in court. At one time, such restrictions were allowed under the doctrine of states' rights; today they are deemed to be in violation of the federal First Amendment, as applied to the states via the 14th amendment, and hence unconstitutional and unenforceable.
qas: answers: text: a Supreme Being
question: What do the non-permissible clauses require a belief in?

answers: text: Article IX, Section 2
question: What's one example in Tennessee's constitution?

answers: text: so help me God
question: What language do some of the same states specify the oath of office include?

answers: text: federal First Amendment
question: Requiring oaths invoking God are today deemed to be in violation of what?

answers: text: unconstitutional and unenforceable
question: Because such oaths are in violation of the First Amendment, they're what?

context: Relaxed zoning rules and special parking privileges for churches, the tax-free status of church property, the fact that Christmas is a federal holiday, etc., have also been questioned, but have been considered examples of the governmental prerogative in deciding practical and beneficial arrangements for the society. The national motto "In God We Trust" has been challenged as a violation, but the Supreme Court has ruled that ceremonial deism is not religious in nature. A circuit court ruling affirmed Ohio's right to use as its motto a passage from the Bible, "With God, all things are possible", because it displayed no preference for a particular religion.
qas: answers: text: beneficial arrangements for the society
question: Why have perks like relaxed zoning rules and special parking privileges been allowed for churches?

answers: text: ceremonial deism
question: What is the national motto "In God We Trust" officially known as?

answers: text: not religious in nature
question: What has the Supreme Court ruled about ceremonial deism?

answers: text: Ohio
question: What state uses as a motto a passage from the Bible?

answers: text: because it displayed no preference for a particular religion
question: Why was Ohio allowed to use a biblical passage as its motto?

context: Jeffries and Ryan (2001) argue that the modern concept of separation of church and state dates from the mid-twentieth century rulings of the Supreme Court. The central point, they argue, was a constitutional ban against aid to religious schools, followed by a later ban on religious observance in public education. Jeffries and Ryan argue that these two propositions—that public aid should not go to religious schools and that public schools should not be religious—make up the separationist position of the modern Establishment Clause.
qas: answers: text: mid-twentieth century
question: When do Jeffries and Ryan that the modern concept of separation of church and state dates from?

answers: text: constitutional ban against aid to religious schools
question: What was the central point of the rulings of the Supreme Court's rulings?

answers: text: religious observance
question: What was later banned in public education?

answers: text: two
question: How many propositions make up the separationist position on the Establishment Clause?

context: Jeffries and Ryan argue that no-aid position drew support from a coalition of separationist opinion. Most important was "the pervasive secularism that came to dominate American public life," which sought to confine religion to a private sphere. Further, the ban against government aid to religious schools was supported before 1970 by most Protestants (and most Jews), who opposed aid to religious schools, which were mostly Catholic at the time. After 1980, however, anti-Catholic sentiment has diminished among mainline Protestants, and the crucial coalition of public secularists and Protestant churches has collapsed. While mainline Protestant denominations are more inclined towards strict separation of church and state, much evangelical opinion has now largely deserted that position. As a consequence, strict separationism is opposed today by members of many Protestant faiths, even perhaps eclipsing the opposition of Roman Catholics.[citation needed]
qas: answers: text: no-aid
question: What position do Jeffries and Ryan argue was the reason for support from a coalition of separationists?

answers: text: pervasive
question: What type of secularism came to dominate American public life?

answers: text: most Protestants (and most Jews)
question: Who supported the ban against government aid to religious schools before 1970?

answers: text: anti-Catholic sentiment
question: What diminished after 1980?

answers: text: strict separationism
question: What is opposed today by members of many Protestant faiths?

context: Critics of the modern concept of the "separation of church and state" argue that it is untethered to anything in the text of the constitution and is contrary to the conception of the phrase as the Founding Fathers understood it. Philip Hamburger, Columbia Law school professor and prominent critic of the modern understanding of the concept, maintains that the modern concept, which deviates from the constitutional establishment clause jurisprudence, is rooted in American anti-Catholicism and Nativism.[citation needed] Briefs before the Supreme Court, including by the U.S. government, have argued that some state constitutional amendments relating to the modern conception of separation of church and state (Blaine Amendments) were motivated by and intended to enact anti-Catholicism.
qas: answers: text: anything in the text of the constitution
question: What do critics of the concept of separation of church and state argue it's untethered to?

answers: text: professor
question: What is the profession of Philip Hamburger?

answers: text: Columbia Law school
question: What school is Philip Hamburger associated with?

answers: text: American anti-Catholicism
question: What does Hamburger feel the modern concept of separation of church and state is rooted in?

answers: text: Blaine Amendments
question: What are state constitutional amendments relating to separation of church and state known as?

context: J. Brent Walker, Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee, responded to Hamburger's claims noting; "The fact that the separation of church and state has been supported by some who exhibited an anti-Catholic animus or a secularist bent does not impugn the validity of the principle. Champions of religious liberty have argued for the separation of church and state for reasons having nothing to do with anti-Catholicism or desire for a secular culture. Of course, separationists have opposed the Catholic Church when it has sought to tap into the public till to support its parochial schools or to argue for on-campus released time in the public schools. But that principled debate on the issues does not support a charge of religious bigotry"
qas: answers: text: J. Brent Walker
question: Who is the Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee?

answers: text: supported by some who exhibited an anti-Catholic animus or a secularist bent
question: What does Walker feel does not impugn the validity of the principle of separation of church and state?

answers: text: Champions of religious liberty
question: Who have argued for the separation of church and state for reasons having nothing to do with a desire for a secular culture?

answers: text: tap into the public till to support its parochial schools
question: Separationists opposed the Catholic church when it sought to do what?

answers: text: religious bigotry
question: What does a principled debate on the issues not support a charge of?

context: Steven Waldman notes that; "The evangelicals provided the political muscle for the efforts of Madison and Jefferson, not merely because they wanted to block official churches but because they wanted to keep the spiritual and secular worlds apart." "Religious freedom resulted from an alliance of unlikely partners," writes the historian Frank Lambert in his book The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America. "New Light evangelicals such as Isaac Bachus and John Leland joined forces with Deists and skeptics such as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson to fight for a complete separation of church and state."
qas: answers: text: the spiritual and secular worlds
question: What did evangelicals want to keep apart?

answers: text: an alliance of unlikely partners
question: What did religious freedom result from?

answers: text: historian
question: What profession does Frank Lambert have?

answers: text: The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America
question: What is the name of Lambert's book?

answers: text: a complete separation of church and state
question: What did Deists and skeptics join together to fight for?

context: Robert N. Bellah has in his writings that although the separation of church and state is grounded firmly in the constitution of the United States, this does not mean that there is no religious dimension in the political society of the United States. He used the term "Civil Religion" to describe the specific relation between politics and religion in the United States. His 1967 article analyzes the inaugural speech of John F. Kennedy: "Considering the separation of church and state, how is a president justified in using the word 'God' at all? The answer is that the separation of church and state has not denied the political realm a religious dimension."
qas: answers: text: constitution of the United States
question: What does Bellah say the separation of church and state is grounded firmly in?

answers: text: John F. Kennedy
question: Whose speech does Bellah's 1967 article analyze?

answers: text: the specific relation between politics and religion
question: What does Bellah use the term "civil religion' to describe?

answers: text: God
question: What word does Bellah ask how a President is justified to use?

answers: text: a religious dimension
question: What has the separation of church and state failed to deny the political realm of?

context: Robert S. Wood has argued that the United States is a model for the world in terms of how a separation of church and state—no state-run or state-established church—is good for both the church and the state, allowing a variety of religions to flourish. Speaking at the Toronto-based Center for New Religions, Wood said that the freedom of conscience and assembly allowed under such a system has led to a "remarkable religiosity" in the United States that isn't present in other industrialized nations. Wood believes that the U.S. operates on "a sort of civic religion," which includes a generally-shared belief in a creator who "expects better of us." Beyond that, individuals are free to decide how they want to believe and fill in their own creeds and express their conscience. He calls this approach the "genius of religious sentiment in the United States."
qas: answers: text: flourish
question: What does having no state-run or state-established allow a variety of religions to do?

answers: text: Robert S. Wood
question: Who has argued the United States is a model for the world in separation of church and state is a good thing?

answers: text: Toronto
question: Where is the Center for New Religions located?

answers: text: a sort of civic religion
question: What does Wood believe the U.S. operates on?

answers: text: genius of religious sentiment in the United States
question: What does Wood call the approach of allowing individuals the freedom to decide what they want to believe?