Because of Madison, these sentiments found a secure place as the first freedoms written into the First Amendment. Controversies over the appropriate relationship between government and religion persist today. Cases often come to the Supreme Court for resolution, and the justices are frequently in disagreement as to how to interpret the law. A major challenge in these religion cases is for the government to keep apart from religion yet defend religious freedom, which includes both the right to worship and the right not to. This is one reason that the concept of religious freedom has made for a variety of interpretations and many heated debates in the public square and in the courts, especially in the past 60 years.
School prayer is one such controversy.
In 1962, the Supreme Court said no. In 2000, the Supreme Court again said no, citing the ancillary message, to members of the audience who were not believers, that they are outsiders. According to the Court, the school district violated the Establishment Clause by allowing such prayer before football games even though the students had voted in a school election to include prayers before the game. At the same time, judges have become more tolerant of the use of school facilities for religious activities that are not part of the school's curriculum. At one time, schools concerned with potential establishment clause violations tended to bar student groups from using school facilities.