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The importance of prayer in public schools
Prayer in public schools
The importance of prayer in public schools
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I recently had a discussion with my grandmother about the public education system and the morning prayer. She told me when she was a student they always did the morning prayer and then she asked me if students today still take part in the morning prayer. To which I replied no. Nowadays religion isn’t as formal as it used to be. Today people wear yoga pants to church compared to people wearing their Sunday best as they used to. During high school, we don’t say the Pledge of Allegiance anymore. So it wouldn’t make a difference if we added the Pledge and the prayer. Upon doing research on this topic I learned some Americans are in favor of having a prayer during the day and during graduation ceremonies in public schools. The school can’t perform sponsored prayer during these events. But personal prayer is never outlawed in public schools allowing students for a certain amount of the day to be set aside. As we progress toward the future, society tends to be less formal therefore prayer seems more like a mandatory action rather than a voluntary action. In the olden days where you could choose to take part in the activity compared to having it being forced down your throat. …show more content…
This is important because in New York there’s a state law that makes prayer a mandatory activity in the morning along with the Pledge of Allegiance. Steven Engel and multiple parents sued a New York school for over endorsed prayers. They claimed this had violated their beliefs and practices. That made the government look like they’re pushing one religion onto another human. The Supreme Court had banished prayer from school, but they allowed prayer in other public settings as well. This caused the school boards to eliminate religion from their curriculum and
In 1971 in Mobile County Alabama the School Board created a state statute that set aside time at the beginning of each day for silent ’meditation’ (statute 6-1-20), and in 1981 they added another statute 16-1-20.1 which set aside a minute for ‘silent prayer’ as well. In addition to these, in 1982 the Mobile County School Board enacted statute 16-1-20.2, which specified a prayer that teachers could lead ‘willing’ students in “From henceforth, any teacher or professor in any public educational institution within the State of Alabama, recognizing that the Lord God is one, at the beginning of any homeroom or any class, may pray, may lead willing students in prayer, or may lead the willing students in the following prayer to God… “ (Jaffree By and Through Jaffree v. James). Ishmael Jaffree was the father of three students, Jamael Aakki Jaffree, Makeba Green, and Chioke Saleem Jaffree, who attended a school in Mobile County Alabama. Jaffree complained that his children had been pressured into participating in religious activities by their teachers and their peers, and that he had requested that these activities stopped. When the school did nothing about Jaffree’s complaints he filed an official complaint with the Mobile County School Board through the United States District Courts. The original complaint never mentioned the three state statutes that involved school prayer. However, on June 4, 1982 Jaffree changed his complaint. He now wanted to challenge the constitutionality of statutes 16-1-20, 16-1-20.1 and 16-1-20.2, and motioned for a preliminary injunction. The argument against these state laws was that they were an infringement of the Establishment Clause within the First Amendment of the Constitution, which states that Congr...
In 1962 the Supreme Court decided that public schools did not have the power to authorize school prayer. This decision made public school in the U.S. more atheistic than many European nations. For example, crosses still hang on the classroom walls in Poland, and the Ten Commandments are displayed in Hungary. There are prayers held at the beginning of legislative and judicial sessions and every President has mentioned a divine power in his inaugural speech. In keeping with a spirit of religious freedom as stated in the First Amendment, there is no reason why students should not be allowed to have a moment of silence during the school day when they can pray or do as they choose.
There are many different philosophies regarding prayer in public school. It seems to be a difficult issue to decide upon. The opinions are wide-ranging and convoluted. This paper will attempt to highlight the many ideas and opinions as to whether prayers in public school should be allowed and to what extent. It will further show how our founders' idea of a separate church and state has been taken out of context and why prayer in school should be allowed, but not required.
BACKGROUND FACTS: A New York State law was adopted and enacted that mandated that all public schools recite the pledge of allegiance and a non-denominational prayer to start the school day. Students were allowed to not stand for the prayer. The school board of Herricks Union Free School District in New York adopted and approved the non-denominational prayer that the Board of Regents of New York had written and proposed in 1951 to start the school day. The prayer was as follows, “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our country,” (CITATION). The New York District Court ruled in favor of Vitale, claiming that the prayer was not a violation of the Establishment Clause.
Prohibiting School Prayer Threatens Religious Liberty. Civil Liberties. Ed. James D. Torr. -. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003.
On the other hand, Secular Humanists, have several arguments focusing on why prayer in schools is a bad idea. They state that public schools exist to educate, not to proselytize. Children in public schools are a captive audience. Making prayer an official part of the school day is coercive and invasive. What 5,8 or 10-year-old could view prayers recited as part of class routine as "voluntary,"? Religion is private, and schools are public, so the only appropriate situation is that these two do not mix.
Schools in some states had prayer in the beginning of the day led by a school official. A New York state law required the Pledge of Allegiance under God and recognizing the dependence upon God. Also, the state of Arkansas also had a similar
"God help, I'm so lost!" If you listen carefully, this is a common thought that is heard throughout many schools in the nation. Is this thought appropriate? The following statement clearly shows that the law allows students and adults to practice religion, but at the same time be respective of others and their beliefs even if they do believe or if they don't. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, or to petition the government for a redress of grievances." (First Amendment, The Constitution of the United States). Prayer is not normally permitted as a scheduled part of classroom activities, because it would result in the violation of the principle of church-state separation, which has been defined by court interpretations of the 1st Amendment to the U.S, Constitution. The separation principle is extended to Public school as an arm of the government, with an exception which can be permitted if, during the school year, a mixture of prayers, statements, etc are delivered, using material derived from a number of different religions and secular sources. So far, this has never been tried in a school or ruled upon by a court (Religion in Public).
"I do not believe that any type of religion should ever be introduced into the public schools of the United States." -Thomas Edison. Religion and prayer in public schools is a big controversy for schools in the United States. School officials cannot take sides on religion since it will violate the first amendment which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Establishing a specific religion in public school violates the first amendment, therefore public schools have to remain neutral when it comes to the matter of religion. Some people believe that teaching about religion should not be allowed considering it violates the separation of church and state, but that is not true. There are many issues regarding religion in public schools, however exercising your personal religion independently is not one of them. (Leitch, 1)
It appears that prayer in public schools is heading in one direction - to the top. More and
The courts have ruled against prayer in school. Many agree with decision; yet many disagree including myself. Prayer should be allowed in public school because it is already practiced, it prevents immoral acts, and it enhances the learning environment. The issue of prayer in school has been debated in the U.S. since the North West Treaty (1787and 1789) which states: " Religion, morality, and the knowledge being necessary for good government and the happiness of man kind, schools and the means of learning shall forever be engorged." Thus, religion, which includes prayer, was deemed to be necessary. Many people believe that prayer is not allowed in the public schools. In fact prayer is allowed in the school system on buses, at the flagpole, in student religious groups, and in the cafeteria. However, prayer is not permitted in the classroom itself when class is in session. Prayer in class would violate the principles of church- state separation, which is defined by court interpretations of the First Amendment. This requires that public school teachers, principals, and boards to be religiously neutral. The reason for this is to prevent any arguments among students and teachers about their specific religion. Public schools had prayer for nearly two hundred years before the supreme court ruled that state- mandated class prayers were unconstitutional (Engle, 1962) The fact that prayer was practiced for nearly two-hundred years established it by precedent as a beneficial practice in our schools. Since the court outlawed prayer, the nation has been in steady moral decline. Former secretary of education William Bennett revealed in his cultured indexes that between 1960 and1990 there was a steady moral decline. During this period divorce doubled, teenage pregnancy went up 200%, teen suicide increased 300%, child abuse reached an all time high, violent crime went up 500% and abortion increased 1000% . Morals must be taught and they can not be taught properly without religion, because most of the strong moral beliefs stem from religion such as the Ten Commandments. There is a strong correlation between the expulsion of prayer from our schools and the decline in morality. The third argument is prayer enhances the learning environment at public schools. Prayer enhances the learning environment because when there is a test coming up or a paper due, you think to yourself, " How am I going to do all of this, and do well?
Each Branch of the American government has a specialized job when it comes to issues that affect the country like prayer in school. Attitudes toward prayer in school have changed over the years, but the job of the different branches of the American government have not changed when it comes to making laws about prayer in school, enforcing laws about prayer about how the constitution applies to issues like prayer in school the American government is set up to make sure all issues like prayer in school get dealt in a way that is fair and equal to all: the Legislative Branch establishes laws which are passed that say if prayer in school is to be allowed or not and how prayer in school can be conducted if it is allowed in school; the Executive Branch is responsible to make sure that all schools in America are following the same
School prayer is a very controversial issue in today’s society. This issue has been a problem since America was first founded, in that the country was founded on religious beliefs. The Pilgrims wanted to be able to express their beliefs freely, but in England this freedom was not found, so they decided to come to the Americas, where their beliefs could be expressed freely. As time passed they realized that having this kind of freedom caused problems between different belief systems. Many people started questioning the founding of their nation and what the foundation was made of. This questioning is still going on today and people are torn between letting prayer in to the public school system or keeping it out.
The issue concerning prayer in school has been active for several years and continues to be a topic of debate. With increasing concerns about our children's moral foundation and safety, how can there be a negative view of allowing children to voluntarily pray in school? The recent shootings that have taken place in our nations schools, injuring and killing many of our children, has brought to light issues concerning the lack of moral standards among our countries youth. Whatever your religious belief, the concept of asking for help and guidance from a higher power when you are confronted with difficult situations or dilemmas, at the minimum, gives us a chance to step back and evaluate what is going on in our lives. If only for a minute, it gives us the opportunity to pause and concentrate on what is really bothering us. Even if you do not believe in the Christian religion, or any religion for that matter, the Bible is filled with sound morals and practices, which in a time of despair, could aid in guiding a person to make the right decision or offer piece of mind.
The United States was built on prayer. Prayer or religion is on our currency in the many halls of our justice and federal buildings so no matter where we go, we cannot escape prayer. Our founding fathers did not exclude the bible in building our nation and educating our future and there will be no expectation. No matter what there will be prayer no matter where you are. Some people just don’t believe in God that’s why some don’t want prayer in public school. Though each of the clauses are originally applied to the central US government, and the Fourteenth Amendment was extended to scope out the whole entire First Amendment to all levels of government, including state level. Thus compelling states and the subject schools adopt an equally detached approach to religion in schools. The issue of school prayer was seriously debated in the U.S. since the 1900’s. In the 18th, 19th, and the early 20th centuries, schools locates country customarily opened with an oral prayer or Bible reading. Religious people would sometimes object to the distinct observations performed in schools. For example the Edgerton Bible Case. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in favor of Catholics who was objected to use the King James Bible in Wisconsin schools. The ruling is based on the state constitution and only applied in Wisconsin. Like the other challenges elsewhere in the country, provided a precedent for federal rulings to come later. Legal climate for school prayer in the U.S. began to change in 1955, when the New York Board of Regents developed a prayer recommended for the school districts under its purview. Couple years later, Steven I Engel would bring action against Union Free School District number 9 for its adoption. Arguing that it constituted th...