What's wrong with having prayer in schools?

Question

I'd like someone to explain it to me logically so I can understand.

Answer 1

The problem I have with prayer in schools is that there are so many different faiths & traditions as well as people that are either agnostic or atheist. I assume you're talking about private schools and I don't feel it's appropriate to recite any one prayer. If they really feel the need to do that, why couldn't they just have a few "moments of silence" and then there could either be silent prayers, meditations or nothing at all. It's when you start making children adhere to a particular faith's prayers that I draw the line.

Answer 2

I think it's been covered in other answers, but I'll take a shot. I'll start by assuming you mean organized prayer, since students are always free to pray in school as long as they're not disrupting the lesson.

We live in a diverse society with many different religions, faiths, beliefs, what-have-you. How would you pick which god to send up an organized prayer to without offending those who believe differently? Similarly, if you had an organized prayer to satisfy all those different beliefs, you'd have half a morning spent praying instead of learning.

One might argue that each person could have a moment of silent prayer according to his or her beliefs. But that only raises the question: "Why are you using school time for prayer?"

Bottom line: You can pray on your own time. When it comes to school, sit down, be quiet, and get ready to learn.

Answer 3

The Muslim population of America is increasing rapidly. There are also many Native Americans who are reverting to their traditional religion. Shall these -- as well as Buddhists, Hindus, Zoroastrians, Jews, Shintoists and other non-Christians be forced to recite a prayer written by a committee . . . or worse, some politicians or bureaucrats?

I remember when I was small and attending a school in the USA the state where I was mandated a particular prayer. Thinking back now all those years it really does seem that the prayer was written by committee, to please everybody. And said nothing.

I am reminded of the big brouhaha over the Pledge of Allegiance. Assuming kids know what it means, does it make them less likely to become spies like Alger Hiss, Robert Hanssen, Benedict Arnold and whoever? Does it make them more eager, a few years hence, to become cannon fodder for a President and a Vice President who, themselves, managed to evade the draft, and who started a war to make some corporations like Halliburton and the Carlyle group rich? Just wondering. (I wonder whether the kids of foreign diplomats in Washington, New York and other cities have to recite the Pledge too.)

Answer 4

Nothing is wrong with prayer in school. You can pray all you want. You just can't have a teacher lead a prayer, or any other religious ritual in public school. Unless, of course, you wouldn't mind the Pagans holding a morning ritual to bless all the students while the teacher reads the bible. Maybe the Krishna ppl would like to come in sprinkle flowers all over the place. Would it be alright if I visited a few public schools and showed the children the basics of spellcraft?

Answer 5

Prayer takes time out of the school day. During that time, money is still being spent on electricity, teacher's salaries, etc. Money spent in public schools comes from the citizenry.

Atheists like me do not want to be forced to pay our hard earned money to support religion, especially when that money is supposed to be used to provide children with an education.

On the other hand, Most schools stay open for several hours after classes end. During this time it is common for clubs and other student organizations to meet. I have no problem whatsoever with students using this time to get together with each other and pray. I would only request that prayer not disseminate out of the designated groups into the rest of the extra-curricular state-sponsored activities.

Answer 6

It's really simple. America is made up largely of a bunch of immigrants who are descended from a bunch of people that attempted genocide when they stole this country from the native Americans.

It was decided by the founding fathers that rather than repeat the mistakes of other countries that tried to force religion on people, they would keep it open so that every person would have the freedom to worship as they see fit.

This principle allows all the people who became American to enjoy whatever specific religious sect they wanted to follow, in freedom.

Once you start allowing the government to dictate an official religion it limits choice and curtails the rights of those not in the mainstream.

How would you feel if your children were forced to pray in a specific manner that went against your religions beliefs?

There are all kinds of different religions out there. Even within Christianity there are so many divisions. How would we decide as a country exactly how our children worship in school without offending anyone?

The bottom line is that American education is in the toilet and lags way behind other countries in many areas. Considering children are only in school some 30 odd weeks per year and a few hours a day, they have their entire vacations, every evening, every morning, and every weekend to pursue whatever religious experience they would like to. Parents have ample time to brainwash their children without trying to add additional measures to schools. America will do far better to try harder to cover the basics of education, than to add some pointless religious crap into the mix.

Answer 7

because sometimes the prayers are said out loud and it's offensive to those who believe in and other religion. In addition, we also have agnostic and atheist in this world, why should they forced to do this. The key part to this whole debate I believe is seperation of state and religion in our country. If you have a private school, then feel free but if the school is based on tax dollars than allowing prayers means abolishing the seperation between church and state.

But personally, just think about it. When you say prayer, I assume you mean the Christian or Catholic God, which everyone knows is the only God (he's my God), that's a little joke anyways in this country. But how would you feel if they implemented this in order to observe the Islamic God, which btw is also the same God but just a different religion? How would you feel about prayers then?

Answer 8

In short, separation of church and state. If we were to allow organized prayer in school, like the manner to which I believe you are referring, it would appear to the young children, with their minds that can easily be changed, that the school and its administration are condoning such religion and its practices. People are free to pray on their own! It is just that it cannot be an organized event by the administration.

There have been court rulings on the religion clauses of the Constitution wherein prayer was allowed at college and law school graduations. This was because the people are able to discern that they have the right to either participate or refuse to participate. It all comes down to the sophistication of the audience. Children can believe something is mandatory, even if it isn't. Adults should know and recognize the difference.

For example, here is an absurd fact pattern to demonstrate. Let's say in a classroom there was a prayer to the almighty paper clip. The teacher, a person of power, asks those students who want to participate to get up from their desks and engage in this group ritual to the paper clip. The children would believe they had to participate because they've been taught to listen to what the teacher is saying. Additionally, peer pressure causes children who have been raised in other belief systems to feel excluded and cause them to want to join in the activity.

Now, consider if this happened with adults. A person of authority comes in and says the students need to pray to a paper clip. Adults should be able to discern that they do not need to engage in such an activity if it is contrary to their belief system. They know how to respectfully decline or refuse the request.

So, organized prayer in school is bad because the kids are at a formative age. Imagine if your religious group was in the minority and the minority was praying to said paper clip. Would you want the children to be exposed to that? I doubt it. It would only lead to confusion for the child.

Answer 9

Sure, just make sure you include prayers for all religions so that you don't favor any one religion over all the others. Then if you have any minutes left in the day, the students can actually learn something.

The US was founded on the separation of church and state, so that people would not be forced to worship any one religion, and so the government would not promote any one religion. [Yes, I know these words do not appear in the constitution, but if you look at the entire body of laws, documents and the writings of the Founding Fathers, it is extremely clear.]

So therefore our schools should also not promote any one religion or force anyone to pray.

It is fine to discuss religions beliefs in a philosophy discussion or in a course on comparative religions. "Creationism," "intelligent design" and other pseudo-sciences should be categorized here as well.

Answer 10

There will always be prayer in schools as long as there are tests. That's private. That's OK. What's wrong is government (public schools) sanctioning of a particular prayer. See separation of church and state. Or look around the world at theocracies and see if we really want to go down that road.