On this day in 1948, the Supreme Court ruled 8 - 1 in McCollum v. Board of Education that public school systems could not be used for religious instruction. They ruled that the Champaign (IL) County Board of Education, in setting aside class time for religious instruction, violated the "Establishment Clause" of the Constitution, the clause that established the separation of church and state. Justice Hugo Black wrote in the majority opinion:
"Neither a state nor the Federal Government can, openly or secretly, participate in the affairs of any religious organizations or groups and vice versa. In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect `a wall of separation between church and State.'” (our emphasis)Frequent efforts by right-wing theocrats to dismantle that Constitutional "wall of separation" have continued in the past 72 years. To maintain our freedom under the Constitution, they have to be resisted.
