What do you think about schools and Religion?

Question

Schools will let you have religious groups (clubs). They will not let you say: God Bless You, Pray, anything like that so it's advertised to the student body as a time of fellowship and devotion.

I'm talking about after school.

Answer 1

That is so stupid. How can they let you have religious groups but not God bless you or let you pray or anything like that? I can't believe schools would do that to us. I would seriously like to give them what for. That is just so agravating I just can't stand it at all.

Answer 2

What most people forget is that the same rules that prohibit organized prayer in school also prohibit organized poetry reading, or political campaigning, or singing It's A Small World After All.

School rules against disruption are in place to prevent students from interrupting teachers or interfering with the educational rights of other students. And those rules are neutral on the subject o religion, so they get enforced by ANY unauthorized conduct/expression, religious or not.

If you start making an exception for religion, then you've suddenly made religion a more preferential type of expression than any other. And that's not allowed under the Constitution.

Yes, religious groups can have clubs. Just like the chess club, or the music club, or any other activity that isn't dangerous. The courts have already long ago said that schools cannot deny religious activities as long as they meet the same neutral requirements as other activities. So a school newspaper opening up for essays on a particular topic cannot prohibit religious viewpoints just because they are religious. But religions don't get any special treatment, or special exemptions either. That's neutral.

As far as advertising, the school has to dance a fine line between not interfering with religious activity and not being seen to promote it. So, the school has to be careful what they say, to walk the balance between those two fine lines.

Personally, I think that's a good thing. The balance between non-endorsement and non-discrimination is often a fine line. I think it's sad that many people are so sensitive that the slightest deviation is grounds for a lawsuit. I'd rather see tolerance and acceptance of the general intent to walk in the middle, without being paranoid about wobbling the slightest in either direction. But as practice for staying neutral, maybe it's not such a bad idea for now.

The free exercise of religion is not a license to do anything you want in the name of religion. It is not a get-out-of-jail-free card for violating neutral rules, whether in school or otherwise. But just as religious folk do not have the right to be free FROM messages that they find personally offensive, other people do not have the right to be free FROM religious expression. It's a two way street. Either the majority always gets to tell the minority to shut up if they don't like what they are saying, or they don't. And in this country, they don't. That means that no expression, whether prayer or pornography, can be legally silenced just because some people don't like it.

Religious expression should be protected, to the same degree as another other type of personal or philosophical expression. No more, no less.

Answer 3

I think it's fine to have religious clubs after school as long as every religion is able to start a club if they want to and no group in left out or harmed by their club. A good example is that some school wanted to do away with a Gay/Straight Alliance because they didn't like it but wanted to keep their Baptist Church Club, which is very unfair and ignorant of different people. Junk like this cannot happen. So it really matters what they are saying about how much power that religion has over the school.

Oh, and ignore the person who said God wanted some sick person to kill his children for not wanting to pray in school, that's just sickening and untrue. God is love not hate.

Answer 4

They should be aloud to pray when they want, they use to be able to do that alot of schools started out with a prayer before school but in 1960 a stupid atheist sued to have prayer taken out of school and she won. Her name was Madelon O' Hara a devout atheist, a few years ago she and one son and her daughter inlaw, went missing and a couple of years later found murdered and buried on some ranch. Her other son became a minister and she hated him. So I think evil people get what's coming to them sometimes. I think God helps you learn if you ask him.

Answer 5

I personally do not think religion belongs in school,unless it's a religious school. When I was young, my parents sent me to a parochial school in third grade. I had no choice. I went to this school through 8th grade. When I started high school, I had a really hard time adjusting. I never sent any of my 5 children to religious school. Churches are for preaching, schools are for teaching.

Answer 6

public schools should be as nonsecular as possible to ensure that everyone gets the same chance at a good, solid education without threat of religious coersion. if you want religious teaching, go to a private school, but be assured that something important is left out during that time spent talking about your religion. In many private schools it is sex ed, and evolution.

Answer 7

Removing God from our schools relieves students of christian principles. Those same principles the founders had and used to build this nation. The same principles that teach love and tolerance to one another. Removing Christianity makes people God-less, with no responsibility to anyone but themselves. Is it not enough that the "theory of evolution" has already denied the existence of God?

Answer 8

I think everyone of Tom Delay's supporters should be forced to go to an Evangelical Service three times a week until they are saved.
However, the Democrats get to decide if and when they are telling the truth, and until they do, it's back to church again for Tom's friends.

Answer 9

Pray in your free time or go to a private religious school.

Answer 10

You are in school 360 hours a year and out of school 61,152 hour's.

Do you think you could manage to pray during the 61,000 hours you are out of school? Or are you just trying to create conflict?

Answer 11

You can say or do anything you want to. Dont let the Liberals idiots of your school try and control you.