2105 (1971), Judge McCurn found that while a school's decision involving the use of school premises might have a secular purpose, the granting of the group's request would have had the impermissible effect of advancing religion. Applying the tripartite test for Establishment Clause analysis formulated by the Supreme Court, Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. After addressing several procedural points, 2 the court found that the *974 Establishment Clause of the First Amendment barred the school from permitting the students to conduct prayer meetings in a classroom. On April 16, 1980, Judge McCurn granted summary judgment for the defendants, holding that the students were not entitled to relief as a matter of law and dismissing the complaint. Because the First Amendment does not require-or even allow-such permission, we affirm the dismissal below of the students' complaint. In this case, brought by students seeking to force a public school to allow joint prayer sessions in the school before classes begin, we are asked to dismantle that wall. In short, logic, tradition, and law create in our nation a “wall between church and state,” Everson v. The sacred practices of religious instruction and prayer, the Framers foresaw, are best left to private institutions-the family and houses of worship. Accordingly, religious activity under the aegis of the government is strongly discouraged, and in some circumstances-for example, the classroom-is barred. Our Founding Fathers recognized the disharmony and drafted the Bill of Rights to require the separation of church and state. In this immigrant nation of dreamers and dissidents, however, no broad consensus regarding the spiritual side of the human condition exists. We entrust this responsibility largely to the public schools, and hope our children grow into responsible citizens by learning the enduring values of Western Civilization we all share-an appreciation of critical reasoning, a commitment to democratic institutions, and a dedication to principles of fairness.
To many Americans, the state's noblest function is the education of our nation's youth.
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