The Constitutionality of Prayer in Public Schools Essay

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.

important decision was the Engel v. Vitale case in 1962 which said that it was

Another issue has been the banning of public prayer in schools. It was decided that public prayer should be outlawed in the Supreme Court case Engel v. Vitale. (Schlafly et al. 150) Some people could understand this as it is not right to make prayer mandatory in school, when there are people who don’t believe in any religion. What might get some people is what was decided in 1962 by the Supreme Court,”… even a voluntary, non-denominational school prayer led by a public school official violated the Establishment Clause of the First Ammendment.” (Merino 8) Many people might wonder why prayer in school, if held on a voluntary basis, is bad. Why shouldn’t the kids who want to participate in prayer at school not be allowed to? One reason could be that the school officials don’t want to put a target on kid’s backs. For example, if everyone but one kid did partake in prayer that kid may get bullied or questioned or at the very least feel left out. The same could be true if only one kid went to prayer, that child could feel targeted and awkward. Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, which took place in 2000, decided that any individual could pray at

Separation of church and state protects the students. “Because public schools are government funded, prayer led by school officials or incorporated into the school routine amount to government established religion.” The governing body is not to place one religion above others. It is unconstitutional to do so. The public school system is funded by the government, therefore they are obligated to refrain from pushing a singular religion. Separation of church and state is necessary because not everyone is a member of the church body, let alone the same religious group. “The public school system is created for all students and supported by all taxpayers. It should, therefore, remain neutral on religious issues over which students and taxpayers will differ.” The population supports the public school system alongside the government, and taxpayers should remain unforced to pay for a religion they do not agree with, especially when their children are involved. Segregation of church and state protects both the state and the school faculty. “Separation of church and state has been part of the nation’s legal and cultural nomenclature since the early 1800s. Judges, politicians, educators, and even religious leaders have embraced church-state separation as central to church-state relations and a cornerstone of American democracy” The idea of church and state separation has managed to regulate the interactions between the beliefs one holds, the culture they take part of, the politics they support, and how the government interacts with them all. By limiting the manner and extent faculty can approach religion, students gain space to express or explore belief systems aside from what is being administered without feeling insecure or uncomfortable. The division of church and state prevents the religious groups from interfering with government affairs, such as

There is a difference in public schools and private schools that practice prayer in school. If you sign your child up for a private school and the handbook states that they allow prayer in school, then you cannot later go against it. Public schools, on the other hand work for the government so anything they say goes.

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 should be recited only in the privacy of one’s own head or home. To allow individual prayer at one’s own choice is legal. To mandate standard prayer is illegal. The good thing about this is one can choose to pray, or not, to whatever God they choose. Therefore someone praying to Allah, Buddha, or Satan cannot require a Christian or a Jew to participate. Atheists have the right to choose not to participate. A teacher or a government official cannot stop someone from praying silently. Public schools are for all children, regardless of their race, sex, or religion. Schools are supported by all taxpayers. The U.S. Supreme Court has replaced freedom of religion, guaranteed by the Constitution, for freedom from religion. To ban school prayer diminishes the religious freedom of students who would like to pray and forces them to act according to the dictates of a non-religious minority. 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.

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

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

Research has found that there is a correlation between those that feel the federal government is too powerful and those that would agree that prayer should be allowed in school. On the flip side to that those that feel the government does not have enough power and tend to disagree with pear being allowed in school. Based off articles researched and statistics gathered as well summarized it can be determined that those that are of the conservative and or republican party tend to feel that the government should not have a say in prayer in school. This may be because of religious preference or their belief that government should not have enough power to interfere in the religious beliefs of citizens. The flipside to that is that those on the

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.

Is it right that Christians do not have a right to pray in public school? In 1962 the Supreme Court issued two bans on prayer in public schools. Madalyn Murray O'Hair, founder of American Atheists, Inc., was involved in the lawsuit. She fought to ban prayer in schools, and actively promote atheism. Some would think that the law goes against our first amendment, giving us religious freedom; others would claim it does not. It is reasonable that atheist parents would not want their kids praying, or reading the Bible in class. They would naturally inflict their own views on their children and strive for them to grow up believing the same as they do, but why should young Christians be oppressed into forsaking their prayer while

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

Religion in public schools is something that's been talked about and passed along multiple times throughout history. We of course have to consider that there's two sides to this, the ones for and the ones against it. The debate however, of religion teachings in public schools is much more complicated than it seems. Reason why is because our rights become involved as well as important clauses such as the 1st amendment and the Establishment

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, religion is an “organized system of beliefs” that has certain rules in worshiping a god or multiple gods. For many years, the role of teaching the Bible and prayer in public schools has been a major dispute causing religious freedom issues in America. Because of this controversy, the U.S. Supreme Court has long made it clear that the Constitution prohibits public school-sponsored prayer or religious instruction. Although the law has taken effect, there are still topics under debate. Even though the Constitutional law protects the rights of public school students, why does it not fully defend the staff and faculty members? Including religion in the core curriculum helps create a well-rounded education for the students. School boards must take into consideration the economic effects that have bombarded the young adults because of their restrictions towards religious beliefs. Public school systems, including students and staff members, should be allowed to participate in religious activities because of their constitutional freedom, educational purposes, and improvement of political life.