Since America is a Christian Nation, why don't we have prayer in our public school system?

Question

We let liberals teach their "theories" like evolution, but we don't alllow kids to pray? Why is that?

Answer 1

Understand that most Christians confuse the colonization of the Americas with the founding of the nation.

The original settlers were overwhelmingly Christian, and were moving specifically for that reason. In this sense, many of the colonies were founded as Christian colonies. This started to see a rapid downfall, however, after the Salem Witch Trials, when the governor of Massachusetts forbade spectral evidence when the girls pointed their murderous fingers at his wife.

When the founding fathers came together, most were Christian in one form or another, but many of the authors of the documents were in fact Deists. So why did the Christians sign off on Deistic texts?

Had any one of the Christian groups won, the other groups would have been slighted. The Deists really ultimately had no stake in that war, so were a logical neutral position, and one that ensured that no matter what faith was believed, it could be practiced in good faith so long as the civility of the society was maintained. Thus, the Christians among the founding fathers knowingly and intentionally signed off on Deistic documents, to ensure their own continued freedom to worship as they saw fit.

The physical colonization was Christian in origin, however, the legalistic founding of the USA (the Declaration of Indepedance and the Constitution of the USA) was Deistic in nature, and did not describe any one true correct religion. In fact, the Declaration references only once the Creator (a term Deists use since it's the only definition they ascribe to the divine), and the Constitution never mentions a creator at all.

Further, Washington signed off on the Treaty of Tripoli which outright stated that the USA was in no way founded as a Christian nation -- which is true. The nation was founded on Deistic principles, even though the colonies were founded on christian principles.

Once you separate the two types of involved 'foundings', the issue becomes very clear.

Answer 2

Another case of ignorance, I see.

1) America is not a christian nation. Never has been. Yes, you can be a Christian, but you can also be a Muslim, Jew, or even a Scientologist. It's called FREEDOM. It's that thing we celebrate every July or so.

2) You minimize evolution by saying "It's a THEORY.. it's not proven!".. but there is a lot more proof of evolution than there is of creation. Besides, I am a Christian who believes in evolution. I believe that Genesis is not literal. The seven "days" could have been a mistranslation of "era" or something. Keep in mind: the Bible was not originally written in English!

3) I don't understand people who say kids aren't allowed to pray in school. Kids can pray whenever they want. The only restriction is they cannot be forced to pray by a government program (the schools in this case).
Think about it: if you were in a school, and they went over the intercom and started praising Allah and asking the kids to pray to him, you'd raise hell.. wouldn't you? Well, it happened a few times, and now it can't happen again. No problem.

Answer 3

People need to understand that America is not a Christian Nation meaning, we have no state religion. What America is, is a secular and open Nation with a majority Christian constituency.

The Founding Fathers did not make America a Christian nation because they did not want it to be a Theocracy they wanted it to be a Democracy and that's what we are and should be.

Because America is an open society you have people of other faiths and non-faiths living here. These people believe in their ideology as strongly as we Christians believe in ours, so many got into school boards and local governments and forbade prayer in the public school system.

This is the workings of democracy even though it seems to be the down side.

Unfortunately you've got to take the good with the bad. But thank God they have private Christian Schools for those who want to send their children or many people choose to home school.

Just my thoughts on the subject.

Answer 4

No they want them to get an education.... seems like they need more of that around here. America isn't a Chirstian Nation. It's just a nation that happens to have mostly Christians in it. Check out the Bill of Rights. I believe there is freedom of religion still in this country.

Answer 5

Evolution is a matter of science, not religion. I think it should be taught. Unless you are a fundamentalist (a small percentage of Christians are) then evolution should not really bother you. It does not disprove God.

We don't have prayer in the public school system because of a tyranny of the minority. A moment of silence is not even allowed. It goes way too far because activists are trying to score points while pretending to look out for the interests of an oppressed underdog. We also live in a PC saturated era.

Answer 6

America is NOT a Christian nation, and never has been: it is a secular state, and that is a good thing. The Constitution prohibits an establishment of religion, and that applies to all government activities which affect the general populace. I presume that you would not be pleased if your public schools began the day with "Allahu akbar! Ashadu ana la illahah il Allah!" Is this any different in principle than "Our father, ..."? As for evolution, it is established science (as well as a proven fact), and it is certainly appropriate to teach it in a science class, as well as Newtonian mechanics (which, although also established, is wrong!).

Answer 7

In 1963 the US Supreme Court heard a case that wanted to separate the government from religion.

The first such case the US Supreme Court heard was around 1830. That court listed over 100 rulings and laws that said it could not and should not be so.

The 1963 court took a survey of Americans and found out that over 90% believed in God (I think it was 97%). So it did not consider any precedents and laws, but for the 3% it decided to start separating the Christian religion from every other walk of life, government and other wise.

Answer 8

If America was a christian nation, there'd be a huge cross on the flag.
If America was a christian nation, being a homosexual would be a capitol offense.
If America was a christian nation, there'd be public executions on a daily basis.
If America was a christian nation, the practicing of any other religion would be a capitol offense.
If America was a christian nation, there would be no (true) scientists who would make the discoveries and inventions that make all of our lives more comfortable.
If America was a christian nation, our leaders wouldn't be chosen by elections. They'd be chosen by the church.
If America was a christian nation, there'd be no comedians.
If America was a christian nation, we would still have slavery.
If America was a christian nation, there would be no text books in our public schools. There would only be the buy-bull.

Answer 9

In short, because we are not a Christain nation. The founders of this country were very careful to omit any preference for religion and referred to God, as in the Natural God, not the Christain God, but rather, just a generic higher power which was in keeping with Deistic beliefs. Here's one of my previous answers on a related topic, you might find it interesting:


Just to clarify here, America never was a "Christain Country". The founding fathers were diests, something that would resemble today's agnostics. They professed extreme skepticism of organized religion:

"Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced an inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth." --- Thomas Jefferson, from "Notes on Virginia"

"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their political as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purpose." --- Thomas Jefferson to Baron von Humboldt, 1813

"As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?" --- John Adams, letter to F.A. Van der Kamp, Dec. 27, 1816

"If we look back into history for the character of the present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the Pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution in the Romish Church, but practiced it upon the Puritans. They found it wrong in Bishops, but fell into the practice themselves both there (England) and in New England."--- Benjamin Franklin

Examples go on and on. The founders of this country specifically made this a secular nation so that its people would not suffer from persecution by religious authorities.

Answer 10

"Christian Nation" is a term of convenience, an oversimplification. I don't believe that the U.S. and A. is a "Christian Nation" although principles contained in Christianity certainly were influential in it's original framework. Nations that have a state church (aka, a government church) such as Norway or Denmark or England, I think are actually more "Christian Nation" than the U.S. and A., but like I said, it's merely a term of convenience.