Analyze how two court cases—Engel v. Vitale (1962) and West Virginia Board of Education V. Barnette (1943)—confirmed the First Amendment right to freedom of religion.

A New York State law required public schools to open each day with the Pledge of Allegiance and a nondenominational prayer in which the students recognized their dependence upon God. The law allowed students to absent themselves from this activity if they found it objectionable. A parent sued on behalf of his child, arguing that the law violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, as made applicable to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Explanation: