What would you say about prayers in public schools?

Question

Just wanna know what you think about praying in public schools.

Answer 1

The Catholic Church agrees with the U.S. Constitution as currently interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court and does not support "structured" prayer in public schools.

In the Vatican II document, Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae (Human Dignity), the Church states:

The human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits.

Children will continue to privately pray before tests just like they always have.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

Prayer in public schools, while an appealing idea to many, isn't always the best. The Constitution states that there must be a separation of church and state. Given that these are public schools and are "funded" (I'll debate on that term... Funds, yeah right) by the government, they fall under the category of "state" and therefore must be separated from church. Private schools, however, are not run by the government and can therefore have prayer. Also, even though most, if not all, religions pray in some way, it would be difficult to accommodate for all religious and ethnic backgrounds that are commonly found in a typical public school, especially if this school is located in a melting-pot city.

Answer 3

We don't. It should not be permitted. Surely any Christians attending a public school can have family prayer prior to leaving home. School is for the purpose of receiving an education. Prayer has no place in a public school system. Public schools should be neutral to any religious influences or practices.

Answer 4

I think prayer in school should be allowed. I don't think that it should be publicly lead (someone leading prayer over the loudspeaker or at an assembly or sporting event) because of variance in religious beliefs. However, I think if a student or group of students want to pray, then, of course, they should have that privilege. I think the separation of church and state applies to a formal, government-designed and lead religion. Freedom of religion would apply to willful prayer in school or any other public place, as long as it's not mandatory or forced on one to participate. Personally, I don't see anything wrong with a few minutes of silence in schools, set aside for whatever a student wishes to use it for (prayer, meditation, study, etc...).

Answer 5

Little Johnny has a math test. Little Johnny didn't study. Now let me see someone stop little Johnny from praying.

I wish anyone luck who is foolish enough to even try.

Bottom line, prayer is a personal thing. Until we have little electrodes implanted in our brain, there will be prayer in school, church, playgrounds, courtrooms and thousands upon thousands of other places.

I am an Atheist, I don't have any evidence to make me believe in a deity but I do recognize people are going to pray. It is not a big deal, I don't file law suits to try to stop it. Just like you can't stop me from praying, you can't force me to pray. Oh you can beat me until I say the words you want to hear but you can't beat me hard enough or long enough to make me mean it. And as far as that goes, how will you know if I mean it or not? It is all a bunch of crap designed to give someone their 15 minutes of fame. I am happy to say I have already had mine.

How did I do? I tried for a bit of a different spin, did I make it?

Answer 6

i think if it is a religious school you have a right to pray. i'm not against anyone right now, but I think there's no NEED to pray in a school if it's public - unless you have like a grant from everyone's parents accepting it. if someone's against it, I don't think anybody should be forced to do anything if they don't believe it. and i don't see the point of making anyone say prayers if they don't really believe it or mean it. it's just people saying prayers they don't mean then, and that's not the point of prayers.

Answer 7

The whole point of Catholic and other Christian schools is to provide an opportunity for those who wish to incorporate religion into eduction. While anyone may pray privately in any situation they want, there should be no formal prayer in public schools.

Answer 8

I can see how people get offended when other people pray in public schools, but I personally have no problem with it, considering the fact that I do pray. But I think that, with the whole "seperation of church and state" thing, students or teachers should not be forced to pray (not that they would be anyway) but if someone wants to pray sometime, I think they should be able to, and others should be able to join them, as long as they are not trying to force others to pray with them.

Answer 9

I have NO problem with prayer in school. now if this refers to American schools in United States then...think on this.

HOWEVER you have to accept that the Muslim kid will be praying to mecca 3 times a day during school hours, and that Jewish students will be avoiding certain things or asking for certain days to meet the beliefs of their religions.

and you might as well accept the Pagans/ Wiccans will take time to pray, though you might want to understand more about ceremonial knives

Buddhist, and Hindu have their holy days as well.

If this is too complex we could always try FOLLOWING THE CONSTITUTION separation of church and state...still known as the first amendment

Answer 10

Prayer was removed from public schools in either '62 or '63, and look where the public school systems have gone since then...