Against the Prohibition of Posting the Ten Commandments in Public Schools

Religion is one of the most controversial issues in society today. The concern of allowing prayer in schools is an on-going debate and has resulted in numerous lawsuits. Religious school clubs, after school activities, curriculums, and moments of silence during school are just a few of the court cases that judges have administered. People in favor of prayer in schools believe that their children can only learn certain values through religious practice. On the other hand, an individual against religious practice in schools views this issue as an infringement on his or her children’s rights as Americans.

Constitution's First Amendment requirement that the District neither establish religion in the schools nor prohibit students’ free exercise of religion according to pertinent interpretation and application of those constitutional provisions by the courts. Any religious characters need to conform to policy 8800” (Markesan District School, 2013). “Decisions of the United States Supreme Court have made it clear that it is not the province of a public school to advance or inhibit religious beliefs or practices” (Markesan District School, 2015). Under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution, this remains the “inviolate province of the individual and the church of his/her choice. The rights of any minority, no matter how small, must be protected. District staff members shall not use prayer, religious readings, or religious symbols as a devotional exercise or in an act of worship or celebration” (20 U.S.C. 4071 et seq.) (Markesan District School, 2015). Having examined the Markesan District School First Amendment related to this topic the next step is to conclude my research on this topic.

Since the Declaration of Independence was drafted founding itself on individual privileges and choice, happiness and democracy, a multitude of concerns have kindled the rights disputes that we see making law an active and continually growing and interesting area of interest today. Issues arose included women suffrage, civil equality, slavery, the ability to hold a religious forum, along with many others. And, though the context and times have significantly changed with these concerns there still remains a constant struggle between state, religion, and schools. Prayer in public schools is still a topic of conversation. The giving of religious gifts to administrators and the funding of schools through tax-payer monies are

“Since prayer was removed from public school classrooms in 1962, we have had a 6-fold increase in violent crime, our divorce rate has tripled,births to single mothers have increased 5-fold, the teenage suicide rate has tripled, and SAT scores have dropped 10%.(Creation Today). Reasons that represent why prayer and moments of silence should be allowed in the public school system will be expressed. This essay will represent the affirmative stance when regarding this topic of school wide prayer and moments of silence.

They stated that religion unifies many people and puts faith into America. The State believed that the prayer would help bring out the spiritual side of children. The parents argued that the prayer quite simply violated the first amendment, the separation of church and state and requires that the government stay out of the business of prescribing religious activities of any kind. They argued that because not all students shared the same religious beliefs, the public schools should not be a place to preach religion, and believed that religious freedom of the students was being corrupted by providing time during school for prayer. The State rebutted that the prayer was completely optional, therefore was constitutional; if the prayer was against a child’s religion, or if they simply did not want to they did not have to take part in the prayer. A case very similar to this one took place rather recently. An excerpt from the pledge of allegiance states “one nation, under God.” A parent of a child attending pleaded that having said words in the pledge of allegiance is in violation of the Establishment Clause, and took it to the Supreme Court, this is the case of Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow. The Court's decision was that the excerpt did not violate the constitution because it is a symbol of our heritage and it is a

The First Amendment gives the citizens of the United States their most important rights: the right to freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion, and the freedom of assembly. Over time these rights have worked themselves into the everyday lives of United States citizens. However, there are still places where our First Amendment rights may be compromised. In the school system, finding a balance of respect and freedom of speech and press is as difficult as learning out to tightrope walk. One wrong step and you could be compromising the learning environment of the entire student body.

Prayer will have a profound effect on the children. Those that are of younger ages will develop an attitude of gratitude because someone taught them to pray. They can be introduced to other gods if they chose to. They will renew the founding fathers’ ideals of what the United States of America was built on as far as God goes. In God we trust. Morals and values have almost disappeared completely in the public schools. David Barton wrote “ The schools have declined since prayer was removed in 1962. Teenage pregnancy rates have gone up 500%. SAT scores have steadily declined each year for 18 straight years since 1962. The United States is rated 15th among the industrialized nations.

The issues of prayer in the school system used to be on the back burner but now it has been moved upstage, front and center. The discussion of a school prayer amendment is not so much about prayer itself but more about what kind of prayer

To many people think that the ten commandments are out of date, but the ten commandments could help students more than a code of ethics. More and more schools are removing the ten commandments from their schools. Even though separation of state and religion is a law, it could be offensive to non-christian, and the ten commandments are viewed as out of date. The ten commandments should still be displayed in public government buildings and in schools. Just because some supreme court decided it illegal to display the ten commandments in public buildings doesn't mean that he ruling can't be overturned let's look at some statistics on this subject.

The textbook rightly points out the secularism and pluralism dominates many aspects of this worldly culture. This has been reflected in many different ways. Much of America has lost belief in a divine creator, which has moved us down a path of no foundation for order. Second, modern thought has instilled a sense of individual achievement and a loss of a moral conscience where our moral norms are absent of religion. Finally, as we have progressed in modern society, these effects have lead to a fragile secular

Although numerous school say the pledge and others do not, it would be befitting to discourage reciting the pledge in school. Reasons for this vary, but one major reason is that countless members of a population feel they still belong to the country they grew up in, and they have a religion they believe in but they do not believe the words of the pledge. “Considered by some to be an outdated and unnecessary ritual with a constitutionally questionable religious reference and false promises of liberty and justice for all,” (Tucker). Most likely, the schools do not wish to enforce a pledge in which many do not believe in it religiously, spiritually, verbally, and mentally. If they do not mean it, then why is somewhat enforced?

“This is an attempt to politicize the curriculum and promote an agenda over the education of nearly 5 million Texas kids," Quinn argues, implying that the students in Texas are somewhat being forced to learn religion, regardless if they are comfortable or not. An unknown author from a Mibba article entitled “Should Religion Be Taught in Schools?” agrees with the idea that religion should not be taught in the public school systems, as problems arise such as parent involvement, offended ideas/beliefs, and even confusion in the students that have separate beliefs or taught differently through churches and religious practices:

Secularism believes that religion is not something people have to follow it by force but it is something that every individual has their own rights over what they chose to believe and base their minds and thoughts over their beliefs. As we see in today's world most of the biggest powers in the world have taken the secularization system which mostly we can talk about western cultures who have let the people decide what they want as a paradigm. To this point, people have decided mostly over secularized systems where we see more peace and caring for one another rather than in some countries where religion has power over people and makes people's lives miserable.In my opinion, believing in religion can be very necessary at some point but making decisions only on the basis of religion is not only lunacy but also not mindful. I totally understand and agree why our ancestors needed religion to be able to live and believe in what happens around the world but now that we have so much knowledge about our universe we should not put religion the only factor of our decision-making which this can lead us to secularization and the nowadays

A Western lens of secularity will be used throughout this paper to understand the paradigm of religion and state and the way religion has often been meshed within Muslim societies. A Western view suggests that secularism is a way in which all religious and non-religious groups will be protected and have rights under the secular state. This view of secularism leans toward how religion and public affairs are integrated in a society and

We need to pay close attention to the effects of secularism: confining the role of religion to the private domain of the individual and creating a dichotomy between "religious" and "worldly," between "private" and "public." It denies religion and its mediating institutions any public function and influence in shaping matters of public policy.