Prayer in Public Schools

Even though some colonist came to America in hopes of religious freedom, prayer was not a controversial issue during that time. According to Lain (2015) “Schools played an integral part in this endeavor, as they were the place where children learned to read religious doctrine. Thus, from the start, children in the colonies practiced religious observances in school.” (p. 486). As the new colonies slowly turned into 13 states united after the Revolutionary War, the issue of prayer was not controversial. The issue of freedom of religion was created in the Bill of Rights. According to Laats (2012), “The religion clauses of the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution provide: ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’”

On November 30th , 1951, The New York State Board of Regent's approved a short prayer that could be recited every morning in the public schools of New York. It reads:

And the list goes on! “It appears that teaching morals has a very positive impact on education.” George Washington, our first President of these United States wrote- Only a virtuous people is capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they need more need of masters. Whereas true religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of public liberty and happiness…..it is hear by earnestly recommended to the several States to take the most effectual measures for the encouragement

For centuries, the debate has existed whether or not to allow prayer in public schools. Many Americans feel it is not right of the schools to teach religion. With all the diversity associated with the United States, public schools cannot select one standard religion to practice, due to the cultural and religious differences in the country. Not only are schools the storm center of controversy involving religious differences, they are the principal institution charged with transmitting the identity and mission of the United States from one generation to the next. If we fail in our school policies and classrooms to model and to teach how to live with differences, we endanger our experiment in religious liberty and our

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

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.

How can we say that the United States is a free country when we can not openly express our religious beliefs in public? Prayer within public schools has begun a significant debate amongst people in society today. This has been a controversial topic in the United States for approximately over 50 years. Many argue whether or not it is socially appropriate to have education and religion in the same place. People have made various reasons about why or why not prayer should be prohibited in public schools. There have been countless court cases and discussions all over the nation regarding this topic. According to Karen Ridder, “A prayer in New York caused the first U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on prayer in public schools: Even though it was the middle of the Cold War, a non-denominational, optional prayer known as The Regent’s Prayer got caught up in the 1962 case of Engle v. Vitale” (Ridder). This comes to show how the prohibition of school prayer has been an issue for a significant amount of time. While this is a very disputatious topic, prayer should be allowed in public schools because students should be able to freely express their beliefs.

Prayer should allowed in the public school system because prayer is an important part of America’s rich spiritual heritage. All throughout the history of America there have been many important documents written of our country that have references to “Almighty God,” “Thy Blessings,” and “Our dependence upon Thee.” These include: the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, the national anthem, and the presidential oath (Haas, 1995, p. 39). In school students always say the pledge, which states, “One Nation Under God.” A prayer says that students just want to ask for a good day and guidance throughout the day. Not only do important documents of our country refer to God but also the words “In God We Trust” are engraved on all coins minted and bills pressed in the United States (1995, p. 39). There are two parts of the American tradition and they are prayer and religion (1995, p. 39). If society keeps prayer out of the public schools, they are teaching the students that traditions are not important and that what this country was founded upon does not matter. Does society want to raise a group of young people to disrespect what their forefathers wanted; religious freedom? If that is the case then why do people try to keep this country working at its prime when trouble occurs? People do not want to see this nation fall but in the end it

Since the founding of America, there has been concern with the church manipulating government. The separation of Church and State was to make sure the church did not become more powerful than government. In spite of wanting a separation of church and state, The United States of America became one nation under God. The earliest test of the separation of church and state with respect to education is McCollum versus Board of Education. This was a landmark case the United States Supreme Court in 1948 ended the power of a state to use its tax-supported public school system in aid of religious instruction. “The court case which prohibited the state from sponsoring specific prayers in public schools was Engel v. Vitale, decided in 1962 by an 8-1 vote.” (Cline p) It is unconstitutional to compose a school prayer and make students repeat it daily. Although these cases protect our religious freedoms, there is some fear that expelling God from public school has adverse effects. God can still be present; teachers can lead by example and teach behaviors and ethics that

Whether or not to have prayer in schools have been discussed since the early twentieth Century. However, citing separation of church and state (which does not appear) in the First Amendment and applying to the state via the Fourteenth Amendment were successful in getting prayer banned from schools through the judicial system.

            Prayer in school was legal until the late 1960’s, that’s a mere 40 years ago.  Back then, schools would lead each morning with a Christian prayer. The students were required to say it, and no one would ever contest it because protesting against this right would categorize you as a lowerclass outcast. Everyone, well everyone worth mentioning, was white and Christian anyway so what did it matter? Eventually, there was no room for this sort of suppression with so many different types of people and religions. The public couldn’t take it anymore and prayer in school was finally ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the case of Engel v. Vitale in 1968.

Janet, you are truly a blessing to me. I’ve always wanted to adopt children. The more I see the ways of this world, the more I see how important it is to raise children because they need more truth in God’s love and the care that will prepare them for their future is necessary than ever.

Religion is a very complicated subject when it comes to rights and freedoms and who it does or does not offend. Religion is practiced emotionally within a person. Some religious practices require physical movement or visual distraction, and that is why non-religious groups argue that prayer should not be allowed in any public form or fashion. The reason so many are “offended” by seeing prayer take place or hearing a prayer varies with the individual, but some would assume a guilty conscience, while others would argue that the non-religious groups want to rid the earth of religion in every way. The interesting thing about religion is that not having a religion is actually a re-ligion called agnostic, or not believing in any higher deity at all.

According to the law religious freedom can’t be stopped but the law also states that if a staff member of the school is apart of religious activities it is illegal. When parents or students say that pray has no right in public schools, that’s not at all what the First Amendment says. According to the First Amendment people are guaranteed certain freedoms including religion, but it also prohibits Congress from restricting an individual’s religious practices. People can’t just say prayer in public schools isn’t right because the Amendments say people’s rights to religious freedom can’t be restricted. “Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to prohibit individual or group prayer in public schools or other public institutions (“Constitutional”).” The framers of the Constitution said that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” is to be one of the central principles of the American government

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.