Rick Allen: “In the realm of public education, the Supreme Court--and the Presiding Officer of the Senate right now is well aware of…”

“In the realm of public education, the Supreme Court--and the Presiding Officer of the Senate right now is well aware of precedent in the various decisions the Supreme Court has made when dealing in the realm and the issue of public education and prayer, or the religious tests. There are at least three different but interrelated tests used to analyze alleged violations of the establishment clause--in other words, the establishment of a religion. It is a three-pronged test, first articulated in the case of Lemon v. Kurtzman, called the Lemon test, and that is to determine whether that public activity had a primarily secular purpose. Here, the Pledge of Allegiance is primarily a patriotic event and purpose. The second test is called the endorsement test. Here, there is no endorsement of any denomination of any religion. So that test is passed. The third test is called the coercion test, and there is no coercion here for students. The Supreme Court of the United States has commented that the presence of 'one nation under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance is constitutional.”