your opinion on prayer in public schools?

Question

kay well we had a debate in class today and this statement stuck out for me

"the government should allow prayer in public schools"

i of course agreed becuse im a christian but after i thought about it, maybe i should change my mind. i mean if we did and if our teachers said "now we pray" maybe some kids are against it and it would cause lots of chaos? but also there are private schools so if our parents wanted us to pray they would send us there right?

but also im on the other side because most of us do have a religon and would like to express that in the schools but im still not completely sure..

and opinions?

Answer 1

Cliched, but apt...
"Don't pray in my school and I won't learn in your church."

( Whose 'God'? ... Whose prayer? ... Whose dogma? ... )
( Anyone CAN PRAY anywhere - Don't instituationalize it. )
[ . I N D O C T R I N A T I O N ... I S ... N O T ... G O O D ! . ]

Answer 2

Prayer is a religious activity. Though many Americans choose to engage in prayer, and are personally religious, public schools are secular. You are right to note that some students might not choose to pray and feel ostracized. But that is only one, perhaps the worst, reason to keep prayer out of public schools.

Prayer in public schools amounts to a government endorsement of religion. Now, many have proposed that school prayers be non-denominational so as to be universal and not offend any one particular faith. I suppose this would be better than the national administration of one particular faith, but it is still an imposition of religion on public, secular life.

You say that you are for prayer because you are "a christian." You should know that the separation between church and state is not made just to protect the state from religion, but religion from the state.

You presumably pray in private or at your house of worship, at your own inclination and with your own free will. Do you really want your, or any, religious values to become mandatory? Doesn't this cheapen them? Is praying in the classroom that important to you?

As you mentioned, countless private schools offer a religious education, and integrate prayer and other religious activities into the classroom. There is only one secular choice. It would be a grave mistake to allow prayer in public schools.

***

An addendum after reading the other replies. I am not talking about private prayer here, but rather prayer led by a teacher or authority figure, or any kind of designated "prayer time."

Answer 3

I live in Colorado. Back in 1999, when two gunmen entered Columbine High School and began shooting at their classmates, I could NOT help but notice that, when the students were evacuated, the FIRST thing that MANY of the students did when they were evacuated from the buildings was kneel in prayer! I noticed that the SAME thing happened following the recent shootings at Virginia Tech! I believe that schools should make places available for students who WANT to pray to be able to go to that spot and pray WITHOUT being harassed by people who want to make fun of the students' faith. I do NOT believe that there should be 'official' prayers which are led by teachers which take place during school time. I know that, when I went to school, many, many students bowed their head in silent prayer just before a test. It seems to me that those are the BEST kind of prayers - because they are kept private and can be used at ANY time! Sincerely, Celestina

Answer 4

I grew up in a country where we had morning devotion or what you would call assembly and not everyone went to church some of the schools were private Christian schools and some were not but no one complained Then again there weren't so many different religions such as we have in this country. i would love to see prayer in schools but we cannot force our beliefs on others. I would hope that each individual would be allowed to say their prayers privately without being ridicule or punished regardless of who they are praying to it is their rights. God gave us free will.

Answer 5

Think about it this way. If you are a christian and your teacher was a Muslim or a pagan or some other faith? How would you as a christian feel about having to pray to someone other than your own particular version of god?

That's why prayer should not be in public schools.

Answer 6

There should be no mandatory prayer at all. That's discriminatory to Atheists. And you can't get a single prayer that even all the Theists would agree on. I think it's ok if a group of students wants to form a Christian club of some kind, and have prayer voluntarily within their group. But that's all. There should not be a prayer that the whole class has to say.

Answer 7

I don't understand what's wrong with the moment of silence that most public schools offer now. Instead of a teacher or some other school official leading the students in an organized prayer to a particular deity, this moment of silence allows them to pray on their own terms, to their own deity, if they choose to do so.

Answer 8

The government DOES allow prayer in public school, it simply cannot be sponsored by the school or school staff nor compulsory nor can it take away from or disrupt learning time.

You can pray silently all you want and prayer groups can meet before and after school or during lunch as long as they are not disruptive.

Clearly it would be impractical to lead prayer in school - which religion would you pray to? You couldn't possibly address all religions, so you must address none.

Answer 9

As I've stated before, ALL religious (and non religious as the case may be) should be for the PARENTS to teach and left out of schools. If you plan to pray to the christian god, it would also be prudent by that logic to pray to every other god represented in the population of the school (which can equate to several hundreds, depending on where you are). Save the religious teachings for the parents. No one but the parents are going to teach exactly the way they want their child to learn anyway.

Answer 10

I think that if a child wants to pray ( like @ lunch
or study hall ) they should be allowed to do so
in a manner that will not offend anyone else .
As far as the teacher announcing it , I do not think that is a good idea because it would make the shy children not want to pray in fear of everyone who
does not pray staring @ them. ( prayer should be done so no one praying feels uncomfortable )

take care

Answer 11

Give kids a moment of silence. A moment of prayer is in effect discriminative, not to mention isolating to a young atheist. I don't understand why this seems to be only a christian issue. You don't see the Jews and Muslims insisting on prayer in school. Give them 3 minutes of silence and they can do what they want with it.