Persuasive Essay: Prayer In Public Schools

Prayer in School

Students and teachers should have their various rights to prayer in school and religious expression, without the intervention of the state, because of past court cases reaffirming their right to freedom of religion. Students rights to freedom of religion in school are being challenged in today's times, and even more, teachers are facing hard consequences for involving religion and prayer in the classroom. Though clear laws are stated, that separate the church and state, there are also laws that protect the right to religion in the classroom. Students shouldn’t have to “ leave their religion at home” before they come to school. With my own personal experience of being able to pray in school, I understand the need of that connection

Annie Laurie Gaylor states that “Public schools exist to educate, not to proselytize. Children in public schools are a captive audience. Making prayer an official part of the school day is coercive and invasive.” Gaylor is stating that schools with prayer are targeting students and forcing them to believe in a certain religion, but that is not at all what prayer in school is about. Prayer in school is about a time of day; It’s about a time where you can express your beliefs silently or aloud. There is no force upon others or invasive action being taken. Also, prayer in school is for ALL religions. Christians as well as muslims, islamist, and even atheist have that time of day. All religions are respected and all students of these multiple religions have the time to pray or perform whatever religious expression they feel is needed. Gaylor also states that “Even Jesus was against school prayer” and she quotes the bible “ Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men… , But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret." - Matt. 6:5-6. Yes, this verse is in the bible, but what it’s talking about does not pertain to Jesus being against praying in public. Matthew 6:5-6 is for the sake of focus. Don’t pray for the purpose of attention, but pray to God and have all of your focus on him. If that means you need to be behind closed doors, then do so, but we have so many examples of people praying aloud and in public in the bible. For example, King David and King Solomon both prayed aloud. Their prayers were focused and to the point. The Pharisees prayed in the streets to boast and to show that they were holy. The only person we should be showing to that we are holy is God. He is the judge and in