o parochial school students. The Court determined that the purpose of the loans was to further the education of a young person. "The law merely makes available to all children the benefits of a general program to lent school books free of charge. Books are furnished at the request of the pupil and the ownership remains, at least technically, in the State. Thus funds or books are furnished to parochial schools, and the financial benefit is to parents and children, not to schools. Perhaps free books make it more likely that some children choose to attend a sectarian school, but that was true of the state-paid bus fares in Everson and does not alone demonstrate unconstitutional degree of support for a religious institution." In 1962 the case of Engel v. Vitale was brought forth in front of the Supreme Court. The initial case arose when the Board of Regents of New York State composed a "nondenominational" prayer that it recommended local school boards adopt. The parents of some children objected and took the case to the courts. The Supreme Court reviewed the case and declared it unconstitutional. It violated the Establishment Clause because government officials for a governmental program to further religious beliefs composed the prayer. For this reason the Regent's prayer breaches the constitutional wall of separation between Church and State. Justice Black declared that the First Amendment means "that in this country it is no part of the business of government to compose official payers for any group of the American people to recite as part of a religious program carried on by government."Following the prayer decision came two cases in which parents and their school age children challenged the effectiveness under the Establishment Clause of requirements that each school day begin with readings of selections from the Bible. In the Abington Township v. Schempp students were required to read ten verses from the Bible. After com...
