In the 1987 Supreme Court case Edwards v. Aguillard, SCOTUS ruled that teaching creationism alongside evolution in state classrooms was "establishment" and therefore unconstituional.
Edwards v. Aguillard
quote:
The Establishment Clause forbids the enactment of any law "respecting an establishment of religion" (4). The Court has applied a three-pronged test to determine whether legislation comports with the Establishment Clause. First, the legislature must have adopted the law with a secular purpose. Second, the statute's principal or primary effect must be one that neither advances nor inhibits religion. Third, the statute must not result in an excessive entanglement of government with religion. Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602, 612-613 (1971) (5). State action violates the Establishment Clause if it fails to satisfy any of these prongs.
But, the 1st Ammendment to the US Constituion reads:
Bill of Rights | U.S. Constitution | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute
quote:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...
I'm definitley no lawyer, but I'd like to know how the Justices interpreted "Congress shall make no law..." as "No state legislature may pass a law..." or the actual wording "The Establishment Clause forbids the enactment of
any law "respecting an establishment of religion"
Is there something I'm missing here?
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