The oldest known system of education was to teach religion and promote traditions of people. In the western world education was based on Biblical traditions of the Old Testament. The first school in America was in Jamestown in 1607. Schools were church related or private, including universities. Yale, Harvard, Brown, and Dartmouth were all established by church groups. In the early 1800's four of every 1000 people were illiterate. Greek and Latin were taught in grammar school. Protestantism permeated the textbooks, which caused the Catholics to create their own

Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. (Danbury Letter).

The first amendment states that congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. (Giesler 1). The constitution grants the free exercise of religion to every American, and that right should not vanish at the doors of a public school. Although the constitution does not overtly mention God, it does imply dependence upon a Creator through its last words, called the Subscription Clause. (Religious Freedom Act). After the Constitution was written, the first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were added to ensure the maintenance of certain liberties not expressly stated in the Constitution. James Madison wrote the first amendment "religion clause," and an earlier draft made his intentions clear: The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established... When the Anti-federalist saw the word "national" in Madison's earlier draft, they argued that his use of that word presupposed a powerful centralized government. That was not Madison's intention, so his wording was changed to the present construction. Yet understanding intended to alleviate the fear that a national church, such as the Anglican Church in Great Britain, would rise to official preeminence. (Historical Context of Constitution)

The Religious Freedom Amendment states that to secure the people's right to acknowledge God according to the dictates of conscience: Neither the United States nor any State shall establish any official religion, but the people's right to pray and to recognize their religious beliefs, heritage or tradition on public property, including schools, shall not be infringed. Neither the United States nor any state shall require any person to join in prayer, or other religious activity, prescribe school prayers, discriminate against religion, or deny a benefit on account of religion. (Religious Freedom Coalition) The Religious Freedom Amendment would reverse trends of suppressing religious expression including student- initiated prayer in public schools. The RFA retains the First Amendment's intent that government should not control nor compel religion in America, but should accommodate it the same as other forms of speech.

schools. In the early 1800's, H

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