which version of the Bible should be used—for instance, it could be the Catholic Douay text or the Jewish version of the Old Testament.
But local school officials only bought the Protestant King James Version. Teachers ordered students to rise and recite the verses reverently and in unison, or, as in the Abington School District, students in a broadcasting class read the verses over a public-address system. Teachers could be fired for refusing to participate, and pupils occasionally were segregated from others if they did not join in the daily reading. The Pennsylvania law was challenged by the Schempps, whose three children also attended Unitarian Sunday school. In 1958, a special three-judge federal court heard the case. The father, Edward L. Schempp, testified that he objected to parts of the Bible. Leviticus, in particular, upset him, “where they mention all sorts of blood sacrifices, uncleanness and leprosy. … I do not want my children believing that God is a lesser person than a human father.
