Controversial Essay

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Recommended: Freedom of religion in public schools

For decades there has been much controversy on the issues of religion in public. Some issues include removing “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance and excluding “In God We Trust” from our cents, but one of the biggest controversial topics would be whether or not to allow religion in public schools. People such as civil libertarians believe that Christians will force their beliefs on others if allowed the freedom to do so. Restrictions on religion in public schools have grown tighter and more delicate, as well as misunderstood, which has caused many different supreme court rulings and acts to come about as well as confusion about what is and what isn’t allowed religiously. Still today, there are questions brought about in court that have not been answered.
Before today’s new laws were made, there was controversy over how to express faith in school. During the mid-1800’s, Catholics and Protestants fought over which version of the Bible to read from during Bible studies, which resulted in much bloodshed. Today, there are many laws in public schools that do not tolerate certain religious activities. All public school students are not allowed to compel others to pray or pray out loud, which could cause others to feel uncomfortable. There is no harassing of other students to attend a certain church because that is what they should believe. Students can not use their school as a church to preach to the student body about their personal religion. Students may recognize and celebrate holidays such as Christmas or Easter, but not religiously on school grounds. Also, no student is allowed to bring outsiders into the school so they may preach to everyone else. Not only do the students have restrictions when it comes to beliefs, but the ...

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...ement of Current Law on Religion in the Public Schools." American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU, 12 Apr. 1995. https://www.aclu.org/religion-belief/joint-statement-current-law-religion-public-schools 2."Religion in the Public Schools." Religion in the Courts: The Pillars of Church-State Law. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, May 2007. http://www.pewforum.org/files/2007/05/religion-public-schools.pdf 3. "Publication." Prayer And The Public Schools. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, 2014. https://www.au.org/resources/publications/prayer-and-the-public-schools 4. Darden, Edwin C. "Religion and Public Schools." Religion and Public Schools. Center for Public Education, 5 April 2006 http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Public-education/The-law-and-its-influence-on-public-school-districts-An-overview/Religion-and-Public-Schools.html

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