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Religion in schools argument
Implications of religion to the educator
Religion in schools argument
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The parents have the primary responsibility for the upbringing their children, including education. Consequently, parents need to be knowledgeable about the rules and practices school, including all matters relating to the religion and religious freedom in public education. In each community, parents should work with school officials to achieve not only what is constitutional, but also what is right for all citizens (Essex, 2012).The principles of freedom of religious are provided in the First Amendment where the civic structure that allows discussing differences, understand the relationship between parents and school policies and forge serve the common good in public education (Lecture 2, 2014). The following issues or inquiries are general information about the speech and religious practice in schools. These issues are based on the principles liberty of religious framed by the First Amendment to the Constitution, currently interpreted by the courts and according to accept a wide range of religious and educational organizations(Essex, 2012). Some of the current issues that are present in the public schools about religion are: Finding a common ground of freedom, Religious Liberty and Public Schools, The Student Religious Expression, Student Religious Attire or Distribution of Literature, Student Prayer, School Services and in graduation services, and one that cause more attention with the new cuts in budget and higher standards requirements is the Religious Holidays, Attendance, and Exemptions.
Finding a common ground of freedom
Parents and school officials in many communities have found common ground using the following strategies of including all stakeholders. Public schools belong to all citizens, and therefore should emu...
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...s. In Fossel, M. & Holstein, N.(Eds.), School Law and the Public Schools: A Practical Guide for Educational Leaders (5th ed.)
Gärtner, C., & Könemann, J. (2013). Religion and All-Day Schools: Impact of All-Day Schools on the Systems of School and Religion. Journal Of Empirical Theology, 26(1), 63-86. doi:10.1163/15709256-12341261
Haynes, C. C. (2008). A Teacher's Guide to Religion in the Public Schools FIRST AMENDMENT CENTER. Nashville, TN, United States. Retrive on January, 6th, 2014, from http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=3964
Lecture 2. (2014). EDA-555: Legal Issues in Education. Phoenix, AZ: State University
Texas Freedom Network. (2014). Texas Freedom Network. Retrieved from Protecting Religion Freedom: Retrive on January 4th, 2014 from http://www.tfn.org/site/PageServer?pagename=issues_religious_freedom_bible_courses_resources
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...
The daughter of an atheist, Michael A. Newdow, attended public school in the Elk Grove Unified School District in California, where teachers started school days by leading students in a voluntary narration of the Pledge of Allegiance. The pledge included the phrase “under God”, which was added to it in 1994 through a Congressional act. The atheist sued the school district in federal district court in the state on the basis that making students listen to the phrase even if they were not willing to participate was an infringement on the establishment clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He had argued that his right to influence the religious views of his daugh...
I am primarily interested in how religion was taught in the early 1970s. Including: what religions were covered, how they were integrated into the text, and the values of the religion that were presented. With my interest in possibly majoring in religious studies I feel that I have an excellent understanding of how religion is taught in our high schools today, but I don’t have a thorough understanding of what it was like to grow up in school in the 1970s and go through school. How was religion presented in the textbooks of schools in the 1970s? My primary goal of this paper is to further my understanding of religion in high schools of the 1970s. Then I would like to further my study by looking at newer documents and regulations that are in place now to govern religion that is taught and expressed in our schools today. What I expect to find is that religion was taught similarly in the 70s without all the newer policies and guidelines of today. Lastly I would like to look at how these policies and regulations in our public schools are affecting our students.
This paper deals with the stance of our schools and government on prayer in school. In this paper I will show how our government is hypocritical in its dealings of the prayer in school issue and how some of us as citizens are hypocritical as well. I will discuss the freedom of religion rights and how its interpretation affects prayer in school. Also, I will address the popular phrase, “separation of church and state”, that is often used to argue against prayer in school.
Public schools might have the constitutional authority to insist on curricular uniformity over parents’ religious objections and they should, no matter the legal situations currently involved. Not only should the option of parental deference not be respected or accommodated, it shouldn’t be allowed at all. I believe that Guttman’s case against paternal deference was stronger than Burtt’s case for. Education in evolution, role elimination, planetary systems are fundamental skills that are essential for the children’s life and society as a whole. Even if parents don’t wish to have their children taught these lessons the State has a right to use paternalism to do what is right for society as a whole.
Hudson, David L., JR. "First Amendment Center." First Amendment Center. David L. Hudson JR., 28 Sept. 2002. Web. 20 May 2014.
In the United States, the average child goes through public funded schools that have a basic curriculum. According to the Texas Education Agency, some of the subjects include science, mathematics, social studies, English, and more. Nowhere in the subject is religion included. The basic curriculum is made in order to give students skills, knowledge, and to help develop the minds of the future. In science class, evolution is taught either briefly or detailed. It is taught because it is a popular theory that did not seem to choose a certain religion. So why believe that religion and science can be taught together? The evolution of Earth and the universe can be believed in any way an individual chooses.
Opening: We are here to represent the respondent Ishmael Jafree as his case of his children’s first amendment rights that has been violated. He has discovered his son was reciting prayers at the beginning of class daily, and because of this, his son’s first amendment rights have been violated for freedom of religion. The teachers of the district also have opposed Jafree’s son’s amendment rights.
Public schools originated in 1647 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and soon spread across New England. They began with an elementary school for every fifty families and a Latin school for every one hundred families. Their mission was to “ensure that Puritan children learn to read the Bible and receive basic information about their Calvinist religion.”1 By 1840, conflict was at a climax in New York City. The public schools had taken on a “common school” education that included a nondenominational course of religious instruction. This meant “students would recite a few basic prayers and read passages from the Protestant, King James Bible without commentary or interpretation.”2 This did not please the some 200,000 Roman Catholics within the city who had serious objections to Protestant “non-sectarianism”2.
Essex, N. L. (2002). School Law and the Public School (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon
"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).
The religious sector has no right to intrude or impose one religion on non-religious or other religious individuals. However, the controversy has arisen in the education sector regarding religion especially surrounding public schools beginning as early as the 19th century; effecting children from their morning announcements all the way to the classroom settings. If religious groups wish to have their own private or home school, the option is available. However, it should not conflict or deter funding from public schools. These disputes concerning religion ought to be perceived from a different standpoint, putting the children first and implementing tolerance, respect and values in the classrooms.
University of Michigan. “Religion in Schools: A look at how religious practices influence education.” .
Gaylor, Annie Laurie. The Case Against School Prayer. “Keep the Church and State Forever Separate.” Madison, Wisconsin: Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc., 1995. ( www.ffrf.org/pray.html )
The argument over the separation of church and state has been an ongoing debate without a conclusion, and has always been a topic to speak on. Many people have strong opinions for or against the separation. While some believe that prayer in school is beneficial to the development of children and of their faith, others believe that it could completely criticize their faith by not giving the student the option to explore their beliefs. In the “Resistance to Civil Government” by Henry David Thoreau, the author is passionate about allowing people to beli...