Religion in Public Schools - More Questions than Answers Essay examples

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.

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.

Issues involving public schools and religion have been topics involving intense debate. It is difficult for the government to elucidate the appropriate boundaries of religion in the public schools. It is true that teaching about religion is permitted in the public education systems, but the real question is where the margin should be set between teaching religion and simply teaching about religion. It is almost impossible to teach about the history of the United States without teaching that religious beliefs associated with the history, artwork, and literature. More than the public is lead to believe, The Constitution permits religious activities in and around public school buildings. It is unfortunate that the

“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”

Censorship is the suppression of any books, films, news, etc. that are considered offensive, or may propose danger to society. Censorship has been around for centuries; even now, with the constitution and laws that protects our rights to freedom, censorship still managed to have somewhat of an impact on our lives today. It’s in the media, our education, and in other countries. But not everything about censorship is terrible, a certain length to what should be censored could be acceptable. It’s the general idea of exercising censorship could do harm to society without us even noticing it. Some countries that practice censorship can be extreme, their lives are turned around and they are not living their lives to their fullest potential. Thus, society should not practice censorship as it is used to promote negative agendas, violates people’s rights, and slows down innovation.

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

There are various reasons as to why censorship is used. They include: security purposes, prevent hate speech, to protect vulnerable communities and also to counter unethical religious and political views. Censorship is currently being used for both political and social purposes. Most of these reasons for censorship are not absolute because they hinder people’s freedom of expression and speech. This confirms my argument that censorship is bad in the modern world. Despite some aspects considering censorship to be good, there are several aspects that promote my argument that censorship is bad thus its advantageous nature.

Censorship has been around for hundreds of years. From 213 BC to now it has had a large part in everyday life. Censorship will unfortunately be a part of our lives for a long time in the future. The AASA defines censorship as the removal, suppression, or restricted circulation of literary,artistic,or educational materials--of images, ideas, and information--on the grounds that these are morally or otherwise in light of standards applied by the censor. That means that when you suppress information you take away the information that people need to not discriminate. Therefor, censorship is harmful because it controls people's education and knowledge of the real world.

Imagine walking into a class room filled with clamoring students. The class falls silent as they all stare. This would be the type of tension and angst caused by differing religious’ views. America is a country based off of escape. Some may not agree, but one of the reasons for colonist coming to North America was to get away from a government whose views were based on an established religion. To prevent this from happening in America, the Framers of the constitution banished the ability for the state to interfere with religion, and vice versa. Yet over time this mixture of government and religion has been tested, especially in cases involving school and religion. Like any argument, there is a party which agrees and another which

Censorship is by no means a new concept; it has been around since the dawn of the written word. With the earliest known date going all the way back to Rome circa 443 B.C., and then later in China around 300 A.D. It is suggested that censorship has followed people throughout time, almost like a nightmarish creature that is meant to suppress our rights and freedoms. While it is true that we have the freedom to say and do as we please as per the 1st Amendment, there has to be a way of “censor” what we say.

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.

Censorship is keeping knowledge or information away from any person. Just think if a community was completely censored, everything and everyone would be the same, like in the book The Giver by Lois Lowry. Nobody wants to the the same as someone else, us as people of the U.S. should be able to be unique and different. Censorship is harmful to the community because it, restricts children’s learning experience, and restricts them from what the real world is really like.

Growing up in a public school system, I see that world a lot differently than a person that went to a private religious school. There were constantly issues popping up regarding religion. Is this allowed or is it not? These were the questions consistently being asked. I say what does it matter? Religion should be taught in schools; students should be able to wear any religious attire of choice, pray independently, and learn about world religions.

Many public schools do not approve of prayer in the populated, student-filled environment. The definition of prayer is” a devout petition to God or an object of worship”(Dictionary). While private schools are capable of creating their own rules an regulations regarding religious practices such as prayer, public schools, as they are regulated by the state and federal government, are not able to create these regulations on their own. This creates the argument of whether or not public display of religious practices such as prayer should be legalized by state as well as national school board agencies. Although Prayer has many benefits, it is still a choice; Prayer is not forced, it’s an individual choice, and the First Amendment states freedom of religion.

Censorship has been used by governments and influential groups throughout history as a tool for political and economic gain since ancient times. The Romans thought censorship was necessary to shape the morals of society to match up with government ideals. During the 1500's the Catholic Church banned certain texts that conflicted with the established religion from being read. In these times the idea of censorship was viewed differently that it is today. With powerful organizations limiting information it was often impossible for an average person to obtain literature or hear ideas that vary from state ideals, they probably didn't even know that their information was being censored. We live in a different age today, information is more