Many traditions had developed within American culture that breached this wall of separation. For example, our coins have "In God We Trust" printed into them, The Pledge of Allegiance still contains the phrase "under God," and many of our governmental ceremonies have prayer as their opening activity. For years, many public school districts mandated that the school day begin with some sort of prayer. The first case to come to the Supreme Court regarding school …showed first 75 words of 346 total…

…showed last 75 words of 346 total…allow the prayer to be said each day as long as no student was forced to participate or if the student was compelled to do so over the parents' objection. Bibliography Selected Historic Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court - http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/historic.htm Read about how school prayer played a role in the 1996 election at Education Week On The Web: http://www.edweek.org/context/election/prayer.htm