I think people should be able to express their first amendment right of freedom of religion that they are guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. No one should be able to tell the people how to use the rights they are given. We should be able to use our rights the way we want not the way people tell us to. The ruling by the Supreme Court prohibiting prayer in public schools should be overturned because students are being denied their freedom of expression under the First Amendment regardless of the fact that silent prayer time does not harm or injure anyone.
Supreme Court will not let teachers do any kind of religious practice with the students. First, The Supreme Court upholds a law that allows both nonreligious and religious groups to be able to have praying programs in high school (Gay, 1992, p. 12). Also, The Supreme Court upholds the right of where the students can pray and where students cannot pray (Gay, 1992, p. 45). Another thing the Supreme Court will not let coaches pray with the kids after or before a game because it makes the coaches look bad, so they say, but students are allowed to pray before a game or during lunch (Student Prayer Case Reaches Supreme Court, 2000, p. 1 of 1). The students are not allowed to read the Bible in school or do any kind of activities that have to do with the Bible (“Liberally confused in…” 2013, p. 1 of 2), due to the fact that they banned religion in school, but in 1962 there was a time where it was mandatory to pray (“Liberally confused in…”, 2013, p. 1 of 2). However, The U.S. House of Representatives has introduced a constitutional amendment to protect praying in school (“Congressman introduces school…”, 2013, p. 1 of 2).
The effect of praying with students is that it is against the l...
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...e given in the Bill of Rights
Works cited
Virginia School District Drops Plans For Posting Lord's Prayer In Schools. (1999, November). Church & State, 2.
Student Prayer Case Reaches Supreme Court. (2000, February). Techniques, 1.
Congressman introduces school prayer amendment. (2013, June). Church and State, 2.
Liberally confused in Kansas: a town's school board risks lawsuit over prayer vote. (2013, Novmber ). Church and State, 2.
Boston1, R. (2009, May and June). Faith and Freedom: What's Conservative about School Prayer? THE HUMANIST, 3.
Boston2, R. (2008). Federal appeals court blows the whistle on New Jersey football coach's prayer play. Church & State, 6.
DiBlasio, N., & Grossman, C. L. (2011, September 6). Churches challenged on use of public schools. The Christian Century, 3.
Gay, K. (1992). Church and State. Brookfield Connecticut: The Millbrook Press.
This example of a Supreme Court case shows that the court is not above politics. Even though most Americans, including government officials, practiced some form of Christianity, the judges were not willing to compromise the information in the Constitution for the popular beliefs of individuals. I agree with the Supreme Court in its decision to ban the practice of prayer in public schools. Not only does it violate the Constitution, but it encroaches on our freedom of thought and action. Being excluded from a public classroom because of personal beliefs does not sound just.
The Supreme Court's previous last major school-prayer ruling was announced in 1992, and barred clergy-led prayers at public school graduation ceremonies. "The Constitution forbids the state to exact religious conformity from a student as the price of attending her own high school graduation," the court said then. Many viewed the ruling as a strong reaffirmation of the highest court's 1962 decision banning organized, officially sponsored prayers from public schools.
With sounds of youthful laughter, conversations about the students’ weekends, and the shuffling of college ruled paper; students file into their classrooms and find their seats on a typical Monday morning. As the announcements travel throughout the school’s intercoms, the usual “Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance” becomes no longer usual but rather puzzling to some students. “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, indivisible, with liberty, and justice for all.” Confusion passes through some of the student’s minds. With the reoccurrence of “God” in the backdrop of American life, the relationship between church and state has become of little to no matter for American citizens just as it has with American students. While congress makes no law respecting an establishment of religion, the term “freedom of religion” presents itself to no longer be the definition of “free”, while also having its effects on debates today. According to Burt Rieff, in Conflicting Rights and Religious Liberty, “Parents, school officials, politicians, and religious leaders entered the battle over defining the relationship between church and state, transforming constitutional issues into political, religious, and cultural debates” (Rieff). Throughout the 20th century, many have forgotten the meaning of religion and what its effects are on the people of today. With the nonconformist society in today’s culture, religion has placed itself in a category of insignificance. With the many controversies of the world, religion is at a stand still, and is proven to not be as important as it was in the past. Though the United States government is based on separation of church and state, the gover...
The court system has jumped back and forth throughout the years and this may seem very confusing to the average person but they’ve never changed their mind on the big cases that were said in the previous paragraph. But the court seems to be sporadic in its decisions outside of these big cases. It all starts in 1962 when they held that prayer in the public schools was a violation of the first amendment.
I’m going to write about how cases of the past have massively affected our lives today and how we do and say things. A major issue we have faced and are still facing is the controversy of religion and how it affects our everyday lives and children. I have chosen to discuss a large and notorious US Supreme Court case that was heard originally in 1960 in Hyde Park, New York.
Washington, D.C.: Regnery Gateway, 2014. Mueller, Arnold C. "Religion in the Public Schools." In Church and State Under God, ed. Albert G. Huegli, Ph.D. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004.
No Prayer in Public Schools Chapter three of Civil Liberties: Opposing Viewpoints inspired me to research today’s issues of school prayer. To understand how we got to where we are today, I first delved into our country's history of court cases pertaining to rulings on prayer in schools. Lastly, to update my audience on how our lives are being affected today, I directed my efforts toward finding current situations. By analyzing these situations, I gained knowledge for a better understanding of why society needs to be aware of these controversies. I don’t think there should be any form of organized prayer in today’s public schools.
Sturgeon, Jeff. "2nd Va. school mired in Ten Commandments flap." 26 February 2011. Pilot Online.com. 7 March 2011 .
In 1971 in Mobile County Alabama the School Board created a state statute that set aside time at the beginning of each day for silent ’meditation’ (statute 6-1-20), and in 1981 they added another statute 16-1-20.1 which set aside a minute for ‘silent prayer’ as well. In addition to these, in 1982 the Mobile County School Board enacted statute 16-1-20.2, which specified a prayer that teachers could lead ‘willing’ students in “From henceforth, any teacher or professor in any public educational institution within the State of Alabama, recognizing that the Lord God is one, at the beginning of any homeroom or any class, may pray, may lead willing students in prayer, or may lead the willing students in the following prayer to God… “ (Jaffree By and Through Jaffree v. James). Ishmael Jaffree was the father of three students, Jamael Aakki Jaffree, Makeba Green, and Chioke Saleem Jaffree, who attended a school in Mobile County Alabama. Jaffree complained that his children had been pressured into participating in religious activities by their teachers and their peers, and that he had requested that these activities stopped. When the school did nothing about Jaffree’s complaints he filed an official complaint with the Mobile County School Board through the United States District Courts. The original complaint never mentioned the three state statutes that involved school prayer. However, on June 4, 1982 Jaffree changed his complaint. He now wanted to challenge the constitutionality of statutes 16-1-20, 16-1-20.1 and 16-1-20.2, and motioned for a preliminary injunction. The argument against these state laws was that they were an infringement of the Establishment Clause within the First Amendment of the Constitution, which states that Congr...
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.
Prohibiting School Prayer Threatens Religious Liberty. Civil Liberties. Ed. James D. Torr. -. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003.
Those in favor of prayer in school pose several arguments. They say it will increase tolerance in schools, as children learn of different religions and how they practice. Many feel it will bring to surface the personal questions kids have about god and religion and allow them to search for their own belief system. The most common however is the argument that bringing prayer back to schools will help reverse the moral degragation of this country. As the Reverend Jeffery L. Osgood, pastor of the First southern Baptist Church in Dover wrote, "Back in 1962, when prayer was removed by the Supreme Court, something happened to America's soul and America's schools. Our nation became increasingly secular and less tolerant of moral standards and values. Since America became to proud to pray to the God of Heaven who created us, we have been reaping the rewards. Crime is way up. The family has broken up. The test scores of students have taken a submarine dive. Its time for a change!"
This paper discusses how the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the United States government interact to allow each individual in a public school freedom to pray while not endorsing any religion.
"The ACLU and Freedom of Religion and Belief." American Civil Liberties. (2013): n. page. Web. 2013.
To have prayer in the public school system is against the idea of separation of church and state. The state should not institute school prayer because the public schools are for education, not a place where religion should be taught (Gaylor, 1995, p. 1). The state should not force every child to say a prayer in the classroom because not everyone believes...