Prayer at Public School Athletic Events

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.

“Our government has been based on religious principles since the very beginning. The Declaration says,” We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by certain unalienable rights…”.” This shows that our constitution, made for independence, wants the American people to keep God with them in everything they do. Even George Washington declared that U.S. citizens need to obey God and his will. George Washington was the first president of the United States. If he wanted the people to listen to God and obey his will, why change that now? Religion in school is not harmful in anyway. People can get talked about and bullied for their religion they practice. That is life and no one should be judged because of their religion they practice or live with. This is a free country and religion in school would not only help the students and teachers, who do not know much about religion but help people to have a better understanding and respect for other people's culture. Maybe, some people prefer not to pray at school, which is not a problem. Prayer would not be mandatory. Everyone's prayers are different; students would not be forced to say their prayer. Only if they want to. “...the supreme court did not “remove prayer from public schools.” The court removed only government sponsored worship (“Ten Reasons”

School prayer is a very controversial issue in today’s society. The issue of school prayer is about whether the public school systems should let the students pray, at the start of the school day, as a class. The issue of school prayer began in the late sixteenth century when people in England did not approve of the way one religion was forced upon them, so the Puritans, known as the Pilgrims decided to come to the colonies. Even in the colonies the Pilgrims had problems with religion they had to sometimes resort to highly creative strategies in order to pray. When people were caught having a secret service they would have to face the consequences that the law enforced, whether it was going

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 American education system is one of the main places of controversy for the Separation of Church and State. Almost every child in the United States attends some type of school, many of them public systems. In such a school setting, these children are often exposed to the beliefs of their teachers and administrators, as well as their own classmates. In Greece, New York, ever since 1999, the town board has begun their monthly gatherings with prayer. Rev. Lou Sirianni begins his gathering by stating: "Be thou present, O God of wisdom, and direct the councils of this honorable assembly," the prayer ended, "All this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son and our Savior" (Wolf 1). Recently in 2007, two residents who regularly attended board meetings, Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens, complained that the prayers were promoting more of a Christian community than any other religion (Masci 3). Although separation of church and state is stated briefly in the First Amendment, these two ladies had the right to go after the town for not allowing a freedom of religion and for most importantly throwing religion into a government owned school function. The case was brought to the Supreme Court in 2007 and is still under debate, with a result hopefully by the end of June 2014. The question is whether or not this prayer is allowed at a school function. Not everyone is willing to put

The issue of prayer in public schools is a highly discussed and salient topic. There are on-going cases in the courts regarding this topic of whether religion has a place in public institutions. For instance, I came across an article on the New York Times titled “Illinois School Settles Separation of Church and State Case”, where a public school has agreed to discontinue the practice of asking students who take the bus to arrive early for optional religious lectures at a Roman Catholic parish (Press). This decision stemmed from the legal challenge brought upon the school. Prior to this legal challenge, generations of students from the Teutopolis Grade School have begun their day with Catholic Mass or other prayer services at the St. Francis

Irby, Jennifer Carol. Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe: The Constitutional Complexities Associated with Student-Led Prayer. Campbell Law Review, vol. 23, no. 1, 2000, p. 69-115. Campbell University School of Law, http://scholarship.law.campbell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1372&context=clr. Accessed 17 Sept. 2017.

Those who are for prayer being allowed in public schools believe that it is illegal to prohibit students from doing so. Many will argue that it is a violation of student 's right to not allow them pray during school hours. For instance, “The new law requires public schools to develop policies that will allow students to pray

In 1992, a student of Santa Fe High School in Texas said a prayer before a football game. This student was elected by other students of the school to speak before the game which was regularly allowed by the Texas school district. The school’s policy specifically stated that any speeches given were to be non-religious, but the court ruled that the policy violated the Establishment Clause. The court argued that since the football game is a school sponsored event that the speeches would also be received by the public as school sponsored. The final decision in the Santa Fe Indep. School Dist. v Doe court case was that the school was only allowed to “promote good sportsmanship and student safety, along with establishing the appropriate environment

They also argue that the government should not allow prayer to be in schools. Praising the 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court banning of prayer and religious readings from public schools. Saying that school prayer assumes that all students believe in God, and that a given prayer might be applicable to all different faiths that could be practiced among students. It is much more likely that the typical prayer or

Most individuals on the liberal spectrum tend to agree with the courts when it declared government sponsored prayers are unconstitutional. The less conservative individuals show a tendency to believe that any amendment that allows for voluntary prayer would contradict the first amendment guarantee against government establishment of religion. Most on the liberal spectrum or those that feel the government does not have enough power feel that any sort of Government action to allow voluntary prayer in schools could be at the cost of the civil rights of students. It is believed that any amendment or law consenting for voluntary prayer would diminish the very heart of the Bill of Rights; which protects the rights of people from the oppression from the majority. Those that do not allow or want to allow prayer in school think that any amendment affirming that prayer should be allowed in school would actually introduce assembled prayer or force persons into prayer. Those that clash with prayer in school fear that judgement against those that do not participate in school prayer. Those in the small percentage that do not want to participate would be obligated to follow to a belief or ritual that which they do not believe. This could cause the individual to suffer the humiliation or burden of submitting a day-to-day spiritual exercise continuously in order to avoid being singled out by mainstream colleagues and educators.

The issue of school prayer is not one of religious freedom, as it is already legal for children to pray in school, either individually or in groups. Since the Engel decision in 1962, religious advocates have been assailing the Supreme Court for "taking God out of the classroom." In an effort to reverse this trend, conservative religious groups have been fighting for the passage of a school prayer amendment to gain greater leeway for religious activities in schools.

Prayer plays such a big role in many people’s lives. It happens each and every day and multiple times throughout the day. Even though it can play a huge role in someone’s life, it cannot be practiced in schools. Prayer in school has been a very controversial topic for many years. According to Steven K. Green, “On June 25, 1962, the United States Supreme Court decided in Engel v. Vitale that a prayer approved by the New York Board of Regents for use in schools violated the First Amendment by constituting an establishment of religion (Green 1).” It has since then been taken out of school preventing teachers to preach or teach about religion.

But, is school prayer really allowed in schools as opposers of this Act concede? In the case of Jones v. Clear Creek ISD (1991), school prayer was allowed at a high school graduation. The reason permission was granted was because the prayer was student-initiated, student-led, and nonsectarian. Unfortunately, this worked for this case, but not many to follow it. Many such cases include: Lee v. Weisman, Doe v. Santa Fe, Wallace v. Jaffree and Engle v. Vitale. All cases decided upon the issue that school prayer violated the First Amendment and was considered unconstitutional.

In each case, students must be provided minimal due process before any punitive action is taken.” The courts and myself are in agreement with this guideline. Furthermore, school decisions and court rulings should be made on a case-by-case basis. Whereas Bentley (2009) would likely be in disagreement due to this does not allow students to engage in the democratic learning process of self-government. In other words, schools and courts regulate student free speech when it does not reflect or promote school mission and undermines majority democratic ideals.