German School Prayer Case
German Federal Constitutional Court
52 BVerfGE 223 (1979)
- Written by Nathan Herkamp, JD
Facts
Prayer in schools was becoming an issue in Germany. Two cases were brought to the Federal Constitutional Court. In the first case, parents of students at Eichendorff School, a state-run nondenominational school in Hesse, started each school day with an interdenominational prayer. Parents of some students applied to have the daily prayer prohibited. School officials (defendants) prohibited the prayer. Other parents (plaintiffs) objected to the prohibition of daily prayer in the school. The administrative district officer and the Hesse Constitutional Court rejected the complaints of the latter parents. In the second case, parents of a student (plaintiffs) at an evangelical Christian school in Aachen (defendant) objected to daily prayer in school. The federal administrative court ruled that the evangelical school was permitted to include prayer during instructional time. Both cases were appealed to the Federal Constitutional Court, which combined the cases.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Per curiam)
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