Essay on Prayer Should Be Allowed in Public Schools

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.

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

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

“Since prayer was removed from public school classrooms in 1962, we have had a 6-fold increase in violent crime, our divorce rate has tripled,births to single mothers have increased 5-fold, the teenage suicide rate has tripled, and SAT scores have dropped 10%.(Creation Today). Reasons that represent why prayer and moments of silence should be allowed in the public school system will be expressed. This essay will represent the affirmative stance when regarding this topic of school wide prayer and moments of silence.

Prayer will have a profound effect on the children. Those that are of younger ages will develop an attitude of gratitude because someone taught them to pray. They can be introduced to other gods if they chose to. They will renew the founding fathers’ ideals of what the United States of America was built on as far as God goes. In God we trust. Morals and values have almost disappeared completely in the public schools. David Barton wrote “ The schools have declined since prayer was removed in 1962. Teenage pregnancy rates have gone up 500%. SAT scores have steadily declined each year for 18 straight years since 1962. The United States is rated 15th among the industrialized nations.

Even though public schools today are without school prayer, most schools have replaced prayer, with a "Silent moment of reflection." Also, the assumption if there is a God or not is a big question as well. I think prayer should be re-instated into schools, because children should be able to express religion freely. I also feel that lack of discipline; youth pregnancy, dropouts, and violence in schools are other issues that can be more controllable if there were religious classes and school prayer.

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

Should prayer be allowed in public schools? This is a question with a highly controversial answer. There are many different angles to this question with varying ideas and opinions that never seem to agree with one another. The issue of prayer in public schools has, and will continue to be, at the center of many controversial debates. Just consider the fact that public educational system in United States is a secular or non-religious one that is quick to shut down any religious actions. This is the main reason why it is so difficult to bring forth any kind of change that will bridge the gap between school and religion. There have been several attempts over the years to use the power of the first amendment of the United States constitution which expresses the right to freedom of speech and religion to justify prayer in schools. Although the first amendment clearly sets out to protect religion from government intervention, the U.S Supreme court has ruled prayer in public school “unconstitutional” because it violates the separation of the church and the state.

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

This has been an ongoing argument for many decades and it has not come to a conclusion yet. Everyone has their own beliefs and usually they do not affect others unless they are directed towards someone of another religion. If prayer is going to be formally present in public schools, that school should say a prayer in every religion. They could do this by having someone of each religion in that school come up with a new prayer each day. Another thing they could do is have a special prayer for each religion present whether it’s a Catholic, Jewish, Islamic, or even Buddhist prayer. If you want your child to pray and learn a religion in school, send them to a private school that follows a certain religion and that have certain religious beliefs. A major reason why I’m against prayer in public schools is because the public school system is created for all students and is paid for by tax payers and fellow citizens. I think that the public schooling system should remain neutral on religions issues die to the diversity of our students, tax payers, and our fellow citizens. A public school is set up so that anyone on any religion or race can obtain an education. There

One of our Founding Fathers, George Washington, stated, "What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ." The religion of Jesus Christ definitely included the practice of prayer. Prayer can definitely make better citizens.

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

Schools nowadays you aren’t even allowed to talk about religion or politics in class because it could “disrespect others” in some places students are no longer required to stand for the pledge of allegiance which can be offending to other students in the area. Have prayer put back in school will allow students to take their time and for others to respect their wishes to pray, and whether or not they wish to participate in prayer time is up to them, but it allows the other students a silent time where they are not shunned or told they aren’t allowed to respect their religion by prayer during school

America is land based on freedoms; one of those is freedom of religion. However, in today’s school system that freedom is not allowed, because prayer is banned from schools. This is an injustice to American people who prefer to patriciate in prayer before a decision is made, tests are taken, games are played, or any other major event that warrants prayer. Though prayer should not be mandatory it should be available to those who wish to pray.

Prayer should be allowed in school because you never know what a teacher, pricipal, student or anyone in general is going through. So if someone takes the time out of their day and pray for or with hat person their life can be much better. You dont know everyone struggle and struggles dont have a look to it. The constitutions states that the word of god should be taught to the children so they know about what the bible says. Some adults fail to realize