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essay on prayer in schools
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Arguments for prayer in school
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Should Prayer Be Allowed In Schools
With all the arguments on whether prayer should be allowed in schools, the history behind all the debate on this issue is back and fourth if they should have it or not. Prayer should be one of the main priorities in the day-to-day bases. This day and time, U.S. citizens don’t want to hurt any ones feelings such as; prayer or even reading scripture from the Bible. This great country that we live in was founded upon God and we have gone so far from it in the past two hundred years or more. All the debate goes back to probably a few people that didn’t want prayer in schools anymore.
Public Education dates back to the Colonial Times in the fourteenth century when New England’s “surrounded schools” was the earliest text was the New England Primer. This was the standard way of teaching young children to use biblical sources. Thanks to the men and women that had the guts to stand for their religion. This helped our society thanks to the ones before our time who stood for God and made this place the greatest place to live on planet earth. Even though most of America was God fearing and prayed for what ever was on their heart, there were so many debates on having prayer in the schools. “Leo Pfeffer was the chief legal counsel for the American Jewish Congress played a key role in many cases before the Supreme Court dealing with separation of church and state.” People like Pfeffer, have ruined it for a lot of people that may want to pray and read biblical scripture and other important things to be Christ like.
Although there has been a struggle over the issue of public schools having prayer, it has been one of the most revolving debates in U.S. history. Many people in our little community have oft...
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...d daily, but the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. flag. Church hymns were even sung throughout the school day. Singing the Hymns varied from state to state.
The public now days don’t want to introduce religion to public schools because it may not be normal in the every day life of every student. So what we need prayer today more than ever whether you want to hear it or not.
Works Citied
Ackerman, David. Prayer and Religion in the Public Schools. 2002. Print
Andryszewski, Tricia. School Prayer: A History of the Debate. Chicago: Enslow
Publishers Incorporated, 1997. Print
Brown , Matthew. 50 Years Later: High Court's School Prayer Ruling Still Fuels
Religious Liberty Debate . 2012. Web.
Margolin, Emma. 50 Years After SCOTUS Banned School Prayer, Debate Lives On.
2013. Web.
The Case Against School Prayer, . The Case Against School Prayer. Print.
Praying in school was first addressed in the Supreme Court in 1962 in the Engle v. Vitale case. The Establishment Clause emerged and stated Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. The court ruled the Union Free School District in Hyde Park, NY had violated the First Amendment by directing the principals to cause the following prayer to be said aloud by each class in the presence of a teacher at the beginning of each school day: “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country” (Longley, "Public"). I agree with the courts ruling because not all students in a classroom share the same beliefs. To cause everyone to say this prayer surely violates their rights.
The removal of prayer from public schools is a very controversial and misunderstood debate. This paper will address the history of the debate, common myths and misunderstandings, and the current trends.
An issue that has been constantly debated for years is whether voluntary prayer in public schools should be permitted. A student should be allowed to pray voluntarily at the beginning of each school day based on many reasons. Prayer based on moral beliefs reinforce good citizenship as defined by our forefathers. A daily reminder of a need for the belief of good over evil is a necessary part of this society. Daily voluntary school prayer should be re-instated in public schools due to three reasons, the historical basis of the beginning of the United States government, the serious moral decline since prayer has been outlawed, and the government infringement on the constitutional guarantee of individual freedom of personal beliefs.
On Monday June 25, 1962, the United States Supreme Court decided in the case of Engel V. Vitale that prayer in school violated the first amendment by constituting on establishment of religion. In 1963 the Abington School district banned Bible readings in public schools because it was deemed unconstitutional (Green). Our government was based on religious principles from the very beginning; The Declaration of Independence says that we are all created equal by God and the public schools have had prayer in them for many years before the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional. Former Secretary of Education William Bennett said that between 1960 and 1990 there was a steady moral decline. During this period divorce doubled, teenage pregnancy went up 200 percent, teen suicide increased 300 percent, child abuse is at its highest, violent crime went up 500 percent, and abortion increased 1,000 percent (10 Reasons For School Prayer). Prayer in school would benefit the student because they will be able to learn
For years now there has been a heated debate about whether or not prayer should be allowed in school,. Everytime the argument is rekindled, it ends in a stalemate, and is a topic that campaigning politicians tend to stay away from.
It is argued that there isn’t a way for every religion to be recognized within the public schools to accommodate everyone without offending anyone. It just isn’t a possibility to incorporate a sense of a “prayer service” that meets everyone’s needs without completely throwing off the school day’s curriculum and without making a form of an offense.
School prayer is a very controversial issue in today’s society. The issue of school prayer is about whether the public school systems should let the students pray, at the start of the school day, as a class. The issue of school prayer began in the late sixteenth century when people in England did not approve of the way one religion was forced upon them, so the Puritans, known as the Pilgrims decided to come to the colonies. Even in the colonies the Pilgrims had problems with religion they had to sometimes resort to highly creative strategies in order to pray. When people were caught having a secret service they would have to face the consequences that the law enforced, whether it was going to the gaol, being kicked around, or being killed. In 1688 these situations were so awful that something had to be done, so the Toleration Act of 1689 was established. It was an incomplete solution and it had a lot of loopholes but it was a step in the right direction. Students today have to sometimes resort to highly creative strategies in order to pray in a public school, so as not to offend anyone.
"God help, I'm so lost!" If you listen carefully, this is a common thought that is heard throughout many schools in the nation. Is this thought appropriate? The following statement clearly shows that the law allows students and adults to practice religion, but at the same time be respective of others and their beliefs even if they do believe or if they don't. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, or to petition the government for a redress of grievances." (First Amendment, The Constitution of the United States). Prayer is not normally permitted as a scheduled part of classroom activities, because it would result in the violation of the principle of church-state separation, which has been defined by court interpretations of the 1st Amendment to the U.S, Constitution. The separation principle is extended to Public school as an arm of the government, with an exception which can be permitted if, during the school year, a mixture of prayers, statements, etc are delivered, using material derived from a number of different religions and secular sources. So far, this has never been tried in a school or ruled upon by a court (Religion in Public).
Leitch, Keith A. "School Prayer." Dictionary of American History. Student Resources in Context, 2003. 265-266. web .
This paper deals with the stance of our schools and government on prayer in school. In this paper I will show how our government is hypocritical in its dealings of the prayer in school issue and how some of us as citizens are hypocritical as well. I will discuss the freedom of religion rights and how its interpretation affects prayer in school. Also, I will address the popular phrase, “separation of church and state”, that is often used to argue against prayer in school.
It appears that prayer in public schools is heading in one direction - to the top. More and
In 2002 Jonathan Zimmerman wrote a book Whose America: Culture Wars in the Public School, which dissects how religion was taught in the classroom in the past, why it has not worked and thus why we should not allow prayer back into the classroom today. During the common and progressive school eras, the battle in America was whether or not to teach religion in schools, but by the 1940s the questions changed to which religion schools should teach. Therefore, Protestants, Catholics, Jews and Evangelicals
Public schools are no place for prayer. (2005, Sep 11). South Florida Sun - Sentinel, pp. 4.J-4J.
Education Week talks about the freedom and practice of religion stated in the United States Constitution and how the government has altered that in their article, “Religion in Schools”. They touch base on how “under God” was taken out of the Pledge of Allegiance and elaborate how students can participate in religious clubs outside of school because of the placement of the federal Equal Access Act of 1984.
School prayer is a very controversial issue in today’s society. This issue has been a problem since America was first founded, in that the country was founded on religious beliefs. The Pilgrims wanted to be able to express their beliefs freely, but in England this freedom was not found, so they decided to come to the Americas, where their beliefs could be expressed freely. As time passed they realized that having this kind of freedom caused problems between different belief systems. Many people started questioning the founding of their nation and what the foundation was made of. This questioning is still going on today and people are torn between letting prayer in to the public school system or keeping it out.