Between a Righteous Citizenship and the Unfaith of the Family: The History of Released Time Religious Education in the United States 公开
Cocar, Remalian (2011)
Published
Abstract
Abstract
Between a Righteous Citizenship and the Unfaith of the Family: The
History of
Released-Time Religious Education in the United States
This dissertation seeks to understand an important program of
religious
instruction called released time education. During their school
day, public school
students with parental permission took religious classes. This
happened as they
were released from the care of the public school for one hour.
Released time
began in Gary, Indiana in 1913. By the 1940s, it was estimated that
over two
million students in the United States participated in released time
education.
The main force behind released time education was a group of
Mainline
Protestants who were concerned with the prospects of young people
receiving
religious beliefs from Sunday School, their parents, or public
schools. This study
uncovers the commitment to released time education that most
Mainline
Protestants had well into the early 1950s. Although by the early
1960s Mainline
Protestants would change course and drop their support for any type
of religion
within the public schools, they remained ardent and steadfast
supporters of
released-time education well into the mid-1950s. Catholics also
joined in the
program. In many cities, they provided a separate class for
Catholic students.
This was one of the first times in American history where
Protestants and
Catholics cooperated together.
The opposition to released time coalesced in the 1940s and resulted
in two
major Supreme Court cases. Major groups that opposed released time
were the
American Civil Liberties Union, the Baptist Joint Committee, and
Jewish-
American groups. In McCollum v. Illinois (1948), the Supreme
Court ruled that
released time was unconstitutional. But, in Zorach v.
Clauson (1952), the
Supreme Court reversed itself claiming that the earlier
McCollum decision only
meant that released time education could not take place in public
school
buildings. This project tries to make sense of these seemingly
contradictory
decisions. A large part of the sea change both in Protestant
sentiment and in the
Supreme Court decisions seemed to have been caused by
anti-Catholicism. These
decisions were also part of a larger shift in First Amendment
jurisprudence that
would lead to the elimination of school prayer by 1962, in Engel
v. Vitale.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
One: The Formative Years 11
Two: The Spread of Released-Time Religious Education 57
Three: The McCollum Case 93
Four: The Zorach Case 135
Five: Opponents, Engel, Released-Time, 1952-2000 166
Epilogue 202
Bibliography 208
About this Dissertation
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Primary PDF
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Between a Righteous Citizenship and the Unfaith of the Family: The History of Released Time Religious Education in the United States () | 2018-08-28 16:05:20 -0400 |
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Supplemental Files
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Cocar Front Matter.docx () | 2018-08-28 16:05:34 -0400 |
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