The Controversial Issue of Religion in Schools
Religion in Schools has proven to be a very controversial matter as of lately. Even though teaching about religion is allowed in public schools, there are still many questions that are being asked in order to provide a basis of what is appropriate for school, and what is inappropriate. The first amendment to the United States Constitution says that 'congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof' which implies that you have the choice of exercising your own religion, no matter what it may be. However, this poses an interesting argument within the public schools of America because we have such a diverse population with thousands of different religious groups. While many people do believe in a God and go to church religiously, many people do not do this-- and they find religion in schools to be offensive. Such things that are controversial in school include organized prayer, wearing religious garments like crosses or yarmulkes, differentiating between the acknowledgement of religious holidays and the celebration of religious holidays, and more recently, the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance.
In lieu of the recent events that took place on September 11, 2001, patriotism seems to have skyrocketed across the country?and that increase of patriotism seems to directly correlate with religion as well. Everywhere you look, people are waving around the flag and singing patriotic songs. The most controversial issue to date is our country?s pledge of allegiance, specifically because of two words located near the end of the oath to patriotism. Those two words are ?under God.? The pledge of allegiance originally di...
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...o, Charles J. (2004) The Supreme Court and the Pledge of Allegiance: Does God Still Have a Place in American Schools? Bringham Young University Education and Law Journal, p. 301-331.
9. Sunstein, Cass R. (2004) The Smallest Court in the Land. New York Times 153(52900), pp. 9. Retrieved September 26, 2004 from MetaLib-Quicksearch: Cook Library.
10. Borja, Rhea R. (July 10, 2002) The Pledge of Allegiance in the Legal Spotlight. Edweek [Online],volume 21, issue 42, pp. 6. Retrieved on November 29, 2004 from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2002/07/10/42pledge.h21.html.
11. Walsh, Mark. (June 20, 2001.) Court Boosts School Access for Religious Groups. Edweek [Online], volume 20, issue 41, pp.1-36. Retrieved November 29, 2004 from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2001/06/20/41scotus.h20.html?querystring=Good%20News%20Club%20v.%20Milford%20Central%20School.
In the 2008 the United States Census Bureau, Self-Described Religious Identification of Adult Population, The Christian faith proved to be the more dominating religion out of all religions. So it would seem the words “Under God” would be beneficial for the majority, the Pledge of Allegiance allures and supports the loyalty of the majority of citizens. The nonbelievers of religion have had the right to not recite the pledge since 1943 but have been asked to quietly stand while the believers recite the pledge in its entirety. Even though leaving out “Under God” is not a difficult task we can clearly see a division has now developed, opposite of bringing the people together. Another example that shows the pledge allures and supports a loyalty to the majority of citizens, the acceptance and encouragement to keep ...
Gwen Wilde wrote an essay on “Why the Pledge of Allegiance Should be Revised.” In this essay, Gwen believes that the words “under God” should be removed from the Pledge of Allegiance. Gwen informs us that the original Pledge did not include “under God” and the words were not added until 1942, therefore, the words can easily be removed. Although some changes have been made to make it clear that the Pledge of Allegiance is for the United States Gwen believes that the words “under God” do not show any support for our country and only make those who do not believe in God feel uncomfortable. Therefore, Gwen believes that “under God” is not appropriate for the Pledge and does not show that we are a Nation that is “indivisible.”
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...
20 May 2014. This article shows a majority of the cases that are relevant to the topic and research questions; it clearly shows the articles that are involved with public schools and how and what they did. It helps answer that research question because it shows that some of the schools are capable of bypassing the system, but sometimes get overturned. Paulson, Ken. A.
Separation of church and state is an issue in the forefront of people’s minds as some fight for their religious freedoms while others fight for their right to not be subjected to the religious beliefs of anybody else. Because public schools are government agencies they must operate under the same guidelines as any other government entity when it comes to religious expression and support, meaning they cannot endorse any specific religion nor can they encourage or require any religious practice. This issue becomes complicated when students exercise their right to free speech by expressing their religious beliefs in a school setting. An examination of First Amendment legal issues that arise when a student submits an essay and drawing of a religious
First, I would like to talk about the history of the Pledge of Allegiance. Many people today recite the Pledge of Allegiance but do not know the history that took place behind it. The Pledge of Allegiance was originally written more than a century ago. The original pledge was: I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic, for which it stands, one Nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all . The flag serves as a symbol of our country and its proud traditions of freedom and equal opportunity. In the 1920s, the National Flag Conferences replaced the phrase “my Flag” with “the Flag of the United States of America.” In 1954, Communist threats occurred causing Congress to add the words under God to the pledge. Then 12 years later, Congress reviewed the Pledge of Allegiance and added the words “Under God .” While reciting the Pledge of Allegiance it should be recited by standing placing your
This plainly states that public school teachers, principals, and boards are required to be religiously neutral. They may not promote a particular religion as being superior to any other, and may not promote religion in general as superior to a secular approach to life. They also may not promote secularism in general as superior to a religious approach to life, be antagonistic to religion in general or a particular religious belief, be antagonistic to secularism, and they must neither advance nor inhibit religion (Religion in Public).
Gun rights and gun control have long been the topics of popular debate here in US. Strict gun control laws that ban guns/ make them difficult to obtain for law abiding citizens in New York City are not the solution to the problem of violent gun crime. These laws do more harm than good by infringing the rights of and criminalizing law abiding citizens. By not allowing law abiding citizens to defend themselves efficiently, these laws make them ideal targets for the outlaws (Journal of Business and Economic Research). Banning or restricting firearms has no correlation with the number of deaths or suicide (Harvard Journal Of Law and Public Policy). One of the main arguments for strict gun control is that violence should not be met by violence; doing so would only increase it (Civil Liberties Review). They also argue that strict gun control is something that the majority of the population wants hence it is beneficial (New Labor Forum of Murphy Institute). My paper is going to focus mainly on New York, with some discussion of other places.
Many parents, educators, and school officials defend the Pledge of Allegiance and other rituals and symbols for the themes of ...
Thesis: the historical Jesus was a Galilean man who who lived during the first Century A.D. and gained fame through chicanery and tricks, which ensured him as the basis of modern day Christianity.
George Washington once said, “Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people 's liberty teeth and keystone under independence …”. In the United States, Gun violence has become a reoccurring issue impacting the nation immensely. As we look into the past ten years, school shooting and public shootings have played out in the media stirring up a debate on gun violence. Because of these ongoing evil attacks, firearms are seen as the killer rather than the person who is firing the gun. Many are fighting for gun rights by using the points of the Second Amendment, the government’s control, and stricter gun laws.
Allowing citizens to carry firearms provides personal defense. Lieutenant Mori of the Washington County Police believes that stricter gun control would result in many homes losing an important means of defense. Twenty nine percent of homes in the United States have a firearm (Kangas). Without a firearm in high-risk areas, a family would be at criminals’ mercy. Forty six percent of adults purchase firearms, mainly handguns, for protection against crime (Guns in America). Three quarters of the handguns citizens purchase are for self-protection (Guns in America). Sixty seven percent of gun owning females and forty one percent of gun owning males purchased firearms for protection. “An estimated annual average of 62,000 violent crimes victims…used a firearm in an effort to defend themselves” (Guns and Crimes). Placing firearms into the hands of trained citizens could increase the amount of crime. Seventy one percent of violent crime victims take some action to protect themselves (Violent Crime). Only about two percent, however, use a firearm for defense, and this is almost always wards off the attacker (Violent Crime). With proper training, an armed victim can properly defend themselves from the attacker. Allowing law enforcement to carry firearms provides necessary defense. “A gun saved my life” (Lieutenant Mori). A suspect with hostages, hidden from
Even though gun can help people to either avoid or defend themselves from risky situation when they meet serious danger which endanger their life, there are some people who use guns in order to commit crimes. In other words, stricter laws on guns will not prevent criminals from buying gun illegally to commit crimes such as killing people or become robbery so they could achieve their purpose. As enacted, the point of gun laws is to make the nation safer by limiting its civilian population’s access to guns. However, laws against murder and violence do not work for those who have given up on their life with the intent of shooting people that they have grudges against. Furthermore, for those who have the intention of dying, they might try to kill as many people as they can before shooting themselves, no matter who the victims are. In other words, gun control law cannot restrain criminals’ actions, as John Lott, a gun rights activist, states, “ The problem with such gun control laws is that they take away guns from law-abiding citizens, while criminals just ignore them.” For example, according to a statistic, in all of sixty- two mass shootings in the United States between 1982 and 2012, there were forty-nine of the shooters used legally obtained guns and one hundred forty- three guns were possessed by the killers with about seventy- five obtained legally (John). Generally, criminals tend
Four hundred years ago the guitar was invented. Since then, guitar has been a great innovative instrument. It serves as the heart of a song, or sound. From Jazz, and Blues, to Heavy Metal, and punk music guitar has been perhaps the biggest factor in modern music. Between acoustic guitar, and electric guitar there is a lot of history.
While students are attending public schools they should be aware of their religion options. The student should have the right to practice their religion as they please, just on the own time. Yes, religion plays a huge part in molding a person but, should be practiced when the time is available, not in a classroom setting. The government should have the ability to control the protection of the students that just want to learn. The capability to regulate the religious practices while attending public educational institutions should be left to the government. Faith, religion and belief, usually are three words that are used to describe one situation, although these words have three different meanings. To have faith in something or someone you must first believe in it and also accept it as well, but have a belief without evidence. Religion is a belief in a heavenly superhuman power or principle, such as the almighty or creator to all things. Everyone has faith and belief, but not all believers believe in the almighty. Allowing religion into public schools while everyone attending not having the same belief is unfair, unconstitutional and is complicated to teach to a verity of students.