Imposing Prayer In Public Schools

The general argument made by Avi Selk in his work, “Texas AG sued to keep a Bible quote in school. Now he’s troubled by Muslim prayers.”, is that religious freedom is a constitutional right that should be up help in public schools for anyone who wishes to use it. More specifically, Selk argues that Liberty High School in Frisco, Texas should be able to accommodate for students who want to pray of any religion in an empty, spare room in the school. He writes, “‘All sorts of folks use it,’ school district spokesman Chris Moore told The Washington Post on Saturday. ‘Muslims pray, Baptists pray, Catholics pray, Buddhists pray, Hindu students pray.’” (Selk, 2017). In this passage, Selk is showing how the spokesman for the school stands behind, and

The start of schools were founded by mainly Protestantism, which is a form of Christianity. Their teachings were extremely religious and this did not sit well with many Americans. These Americans believed that education did not have to be involved with God and afterlife (Greenawalt, 2005). Their second argument is that this nation was founded on trust of God. They argue that our founding fathers believed in God and involved him in our laws, therefore we should honor that by reciting a prayer everyday before the start of class. Their third argument is that The U.S. Supreme court replaced freedom of religion with freedom from religion. They say that to ban prayer from school takes away from religious students. It forces the religious student to act like they are not religious and are being controlled by the non-religious

As a nation and mature decision of government prayer in public schools should not be an issue. The first amendment rights clearly give you the right to freedom of speech, expression, and religion. It is something that should be allowed if students are taught and allowed to say the pledge of allegiance which states one nation under god. I do not know if religion is an issue, but stating the pledge of allegiance do not make much more of a difference. Religious freedom was clearly expressed in the first amendment as it states congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise of using it out all the issue presented and solved in the government, and across the nation, why is payer in public schools

There are many practical reasons why people argue for the integration of prayer into the curriculum of public schools. The most commonly cited reason for this is that children need the moral and ethical guidance that religion taught in the classroom will provide them. While almost everyone agrees that religious indoctrination is the responsibility of the parents, since many parents are seen as neglecting the duty to sufficiently teach their children, Christianity must be taught in public schools. Prayer in school helps build every child’s morality helping them to make the right decision and better choices, it gives them exposure to other religions and promotes tolerance and understanding. It also gives children chances

Lately, many Christians have come to feel they are being persecuted and denied their religious rights, specifically the right to pray in public schools. They believe there is a direct correlation between not allowing prayer in public schools and the problems that plague America. Maybe they are right about the impact of prayer on America’s issues, but they are misinformed to believe our nation’s problems are due to the lack of prayer in public schools. The truth is that school children have always been allowed to pray in public schools, but their prayers cannot be coerced, guided or influenced by public school employees. Restrictions on religious expression in schools apply to the adults not the children and therein lies the rub.

Today in society, not being able to pray in school, having God in the pledge of allegiance, and having rules about religious expressions are causing big controversial issues in public schools. As Americans, expressing religious beliefs freely is a given. The right to freedom of religion was guaranteed to U.S. citizens since 1791. Although in some cases, not having religion in schools are reasonable, but ultimately it is wrong and immoral. By not allowing religion to be freely declared in public schools, discrimination, bullying, and ignorance will come about. Students should not be in an environment where teachers are against them. Public schools and Americans need to help make a difference.

This chart illustrates what prayer in public schools might look like without the restrictions that are currently in place in our public schools. Is this what Americans want? Is this what Christians want? Would such a plan work? Probably not. When it comes to their religion, most people struggle to see beyond their own nose. Most people, including Christians, would balk at any plan or situation that held their children as a captive audience to philosophies and beliefs they do not support, and that is exactly why prayer exists as it does in today’s public schools. Current restrictions on prayer in public schools have nothing to do with a conspiracy to take God and prayer from schools. The religious limitations placed on adults in public schools are a safeguard to protect children from adult religious influences that may be in conflict with the religious teachings and values taught in the home and church. For parents, for Christians, to insist prayer be allowed in schools without restrictions is dangerous to the very values the Christian community or any other religious community wishes to instill in their children.

The biggest motive behind banning is the separation of church and state. Separation of church and state is the distance between religion and the nation state. This is hard concept to find a concept to find a fine line between church and state. This can be resolved by keeping everything completely separate. All church related stuff stays within church or home and all state stuff is elsewhere. Prayer within ones self is not banned so there is no need for mandatory prayer especially if there are students who choose not to pray. They would be singled out due to not participating which is not fair for them. Prayer within public schools could potentially lead to intolerance due to religious difference amongst the students that were unaware. This could again also lead to singling out student also known as ostracized.  Public schools were created for all students and are funded by all taxpayers. With that being said it only makes sense and is right for the school to stay neutral due to the difference in religious beliefs between students and taxpayers. Banning school prayer has prevented many conflicts of within the school system because of different religious

Religious freedom is one of the many freedoms our great nation has worked so hard to protect. During the early 1700’s many different states  made laws only allowing  people of certain religions or certain beliefs  able to hold a state office causing much contention and oppression. Thomas Jefferson tried to draft a bill that guaranteed all  citizens of any religion or no religion, legal equality in the state but his attempts failed. He stated “The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket or breaks my leg."(Levinson, 2012, para.24). James Madison, while Thomas Jefferson was one of  his good friends (Mansfield,1995), commenced the First Amendment to the constitution because he did not want congress authorizing a “National” religion that would cause conflict with the many different religious denominations (Evans, 1995). The First Amendment of the constitution was supposed to clarify this issue, by the separation of church and state. School prayer is a very controversial topic because it has to do with the government dealing with one 's religious beliefs and tolerance. On the other hand though, what happens when a Senior at graduation gets up and says a prayer or implies something about his/her belief in God? Where does her Freedom of Speech come in?  Everyone is suppose to

Today, in America, there still is the controversy about prayer in public schools. Many parents and supporters of prayer, believed that schools and school districts that participate in prayers tend to have students that are less prongs to get into trouble in school and trouble with the law. Most parents believe if we had prayer in schools, we would have less problems with gangs, less violence in school, bullying, sexting, better grades, and less drop-outs. They believe that students do not want others to see them praying and turn around and get into trouble. This action will be considered as a double standard. Even though many say that we cannot pray in schools, the courts also say that public schools cannot interfere with students’ rights

The Supreme Court has just received Santa Fe v the people, in this case the students was banned from saying a prayer at a foot ball game . The constitution protects the right to free speech. Therefore, there is no reason for this case to have come up in the first place. If someone does not want to hear a prayer, they do not have to listen to it. If I were the judge I would rule that banning prayer at school events is unconstitutional.

“Most Americans Support Allowing Students to Pray in Public School Classrooms.” The Huffington Post. 02 Oct 2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/02/pray-in-public-school_n_5917000.html. Accessed 14 Apr 2017.

Recently a high school football coach was relieved of his duties because he prayed on the field after a football game. In other games throughout the country, coaches have had verbal and physical altercations with players, parents, opposing coaches and referees. The Establishment Clause of the Civil Rights Act forbids school district employees from praying in public, calling it an act of religious coercion. Does seeing a man pray cause more upset than watching grown men fight each other over a disagreement? Will the inclusion of a five minute time period at the beginning of class to give students an opportunity to pray if they wish cause emotional harm to those who are nonbelievers?

One of the main arguments to keep prayer in public schools is to keep a moral setting at schools. “School prayer would result in many societal benefits. The public school system is tragically disintegrating as evidenced by the rise in school shootings, increasing drug use, alcoholism, teen pregnancy, and HIV transmission. School prayer can help combat these issues, would instill a sense of morality and is desperately needed to protect our children” (All about History 1). Also, they provide us with statistics proving that once teacher led prayer were declared unconstitutional and taken out of the schools systems, there was a steady rise in crime rates in school, teenage pregnancies, and etc. Shedwin Eliassin provides us with this information, “Our school systems aren’t doing any better since the removal of prayer in schools. In fact, some may say that the situation has gotten much worse, especially in terms of school violence. In 2007, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that 5.9 percent of students carry weapons to school with them, 7.8 percent have been threatened or injured on campuses nationwide and 12.4 percent of students have been in a physical fight on school grounds at least once. The most recent studies have found that 5.3 percent of students do not go to school because they do not feel safe” (1). Finally, they argue

In our government, the balance between church and state has been carefully deliberated. The decision to keep the two separate has caused controversy, with many American’s questioning the reasoning behind “removing God from schools”. But what many people do not realize is that, despite the removal of church from state, students still have many rights when it comes to their public display of religion. Students have many rights involving practicing their religion in schools, such as the right to meet together through religious clubs or gatherings, the right to pray, and the right to take part in daily moments of silence and the pledge of allegiance.