美國公立學校課程與宗教之爭議及相關釋憲判例研究

美國是首創政教分離的成文憲法並保障信仰自由的國家，惟現今依然有宗教與公立學校課程的爭議存在，其中以進化論與創化論之爭最為顯著。本論文旨在探討美國宗教與學校課程爭議的歷史緣由，歸納美國宗教團體對教育政策的影響；分析美國社會宗教道德教育的觀點，瞭解其如何在教育、宗教之間保持課程中立；並以1925年田納西州對史科普判例、1968年愛普森對阿肯色州判例和1987年愛德華茲對亞谷拉案為例，探討美國聯邦最高法院的判例內容，並綜合原因與分析判決的趨勢。　本研究主要採用文件分析法，主要分析美國聯邦最高法院的判決書內容，並佐以美國教育部相關政策及法令條文、專書、網路資料和期刊論文等資料。各判例的討論包括：訴訟緣由與過程、兩派的觀點及判決的影響等部分。從相關案例與法院判決原則中發現，由於美國殖民時期教育與宗教關係密切，所以獨立後政府以政教分離作為保護人民信仰自由的基準，然而基本教義派不斷運用各種策略欲使進化論進入公立學校課程，使進化論與創化論之爭方興未艾。經過幾次關鍵性的訴訟後，進化論取得科學正式地位且進入公立學校之中，創化論雖居劣勢，但支持者依舊鍥而不捨地運用不同策略，爭取創化論在公立學校課程中的合法地位。在判決過程中，美國聯邦最高法院雖以禁止設立條款作為判決標準，但亦提出應從自由行使條款做為檢視準則的意見，因此禁止設立條款與自由行使條款的運用原則依舊引發雙方討論。本研究結果有下列四項：一、美國保守派勢力依然具有主導性的地位；二、聖經道德觀對美國民眾深具影響力；三、平等時間內容重新定義；四、禁止設立條款與自由行使條款運用原則的爭議未有定論。

關鍵字

美國教育；公立中小學教育；宗教教育；進化論與創化論之爭

並列摘要

The U.S.A. is the first country with the written constitution that originates the separation of Church and State to ensure the freedom of faith. However, the dispute between religion and the curriculum in public schools has existed for a long time, especially for the debate between evolutionism and creationism. This thesis aimed at probing into the historical causes of the dispute and analyzing the impact on educational policies in the U.S. Besides, an analysis of American viewpoint of religious education and moral education was done to understand how the government kept neutrality among education and religion. Moreover, the study scrutinized the content of three major precedents on the Supreme Court of the United States (State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, the Epperson vs. Arkansas, and the Edwards vs. Aguillard), generated the reasons, and analyzed the trend from the judgment. This research utilized the document analysis method. The critical cases of the Supreme Court had been analyze and supplemented by relevant policies and decree clause of U.S. Department of Education, books, journal articles, and theses, etc. Due to the influence from the colonization period, the U.S. government believes that separation of Church and State is an access to protect people’s freedom of faith. However, the fundamentalists have used various tactics to make the creationism a part of the curriculum in public schools. After several crucial lawsuits, the evolutionism obtained the legal position in public schools. Even though the creationism didn´t win the lawsuits, the supporters still utilized different strategies to pursue the legal status for creationism in public schools. During the process, the Supreme Court of the U.S. used the Establishment Clause as the standard for judgment, and proposed that the Free Exercise Clause might be an alternative criterion. Therefore, a debate on the principle of application for the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause was going on. This research got four conclusions：（1）the American conservative fundamentalists still possess the leading role in schooling.（2）the moral concepts of the Bible have a deep and powerful influence on the American.（3）the content of equal time is redefined.（4）the dispute about the application of the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause to relevant cases has not reached a consensus.