Atheists, Pagans, Wiccans, Agnostic and other alternative thinkers, Why is it important to NOT have prayer?

Question

in schools?

Peace.

This was a question, not a statement about my own belief system. Please stop "attacking"me because you ASSUME I am for organized prayer in schools. Peace.

And I apologize for not saying "organized prayer"

Geez.

Answer 1

Forcing prayer in schools means that you are forcing people to comply with the norms of one religion, whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim etc.

For example, if you walked into school tomorrow and you were required to recite from the Qu'ran, how would you feel?

Atheists etc are particularly opposed to it as they believe that prayer in school brainwashes kids into religion and that they should be left free to grow up and then, as adults, make their own personal choices about religion.

Forcing prayer is against the Constitution of the US as the founding fathers of the US and those emigrating to the US then and prior to that had had enough of the religious wars and persecutions taking place in Europe.

Ironically, the US is pretty religious for a Western country and Europe is, by and large, a pretty godless place. Maybe the Europeans got really, really sick of religion (or hardline religion).

Peace.

Answer 2

there was a story in dateline about a child of atheist parents who at age 14 did not believe in prayers etc. she was on a basketball team where the team prayed together at the beginning of each game. she usually stood outside the circle while they prayed because she doesn't believe in it. She got ostracized, called names, bullied and eventually had to transfer to a different school.

Prayer in schools is fine if it is a personal thing but when it becomes a group public display of religioin that by definition has to be exclusive and divisive, it should not be allowed. Imagine if the girl team was mostly wiccan and cast spells before each game together. If you were the only non-wiccan in the team how will you feel? Will you just join them or will you feel excluded from the group? Isn't that really the opposite of what the goal of teams are?

Answer 3

unless it is a few moments silence for anyone who wishes to pray ...
then guided prayer would be to one God
this is not fair on anyone with a different faith or non belief

religious education is fine , if it includes religious history through the ages and the impact on society
but religion is for church , prayer is for the individual in their own time

I say bring meditation into schools instead
teach the children how to find quiet in their lives
they are all a little hyper these days lol

Answer 4

It teaches people to focus on passive action which is totally contrary to what should be taught in school. When you pray, you are basically wishing for something to happen, some magical cascade of events to occur that will give you what you want. Children need to slowly grast the concept that they are ultimatelky responsible for everything that they do and everything that is done to them in their life.

If they want something, they need to take appropriate and affirmative action towards attaining it, not wish that it would be brought to them.

It's similar to that analogy; give a man a fish and he eats for a night, teach a man to fish and he will not go hungry again.

When you teach someone that prayer is an appropriate way to ask for what they want, they can only be disappointed. When you teach someone to take responsibility for their wants and needs, they can grasp affirmative action and become the most productive person interested in the welfare of their own lives.

Answer 5

It's important to me that another religion is not forced on my children. ALLOWING prayer is one thing...compulsory prayer led by teachers, or other situations where a child would be required or otherwise feel compelled to pray is wrong.

I don't have a problem with kids praying in school. I have a problem with my kids being compelled to do so BY the school.

Answer 6

You can pray peacefully by yourself anywhere you want to at any time. However, to take time away from education to partake in religious activities is ridiculous. There's supposed to be separation of church and state, remember? Also, when people are advocating for prayer to be allowed, they're really just advocating Christianity, which excludes all other religions. School just isn't the place for that kind of thing in my opinion.

Answer 7

What nonsense.
Prayer is welcomed in schools, it just is not to be enforced, coerced or led by people in authority.

A Wiccan Priestess and a Catholic Bishop have the same right to lead a prayer in a public school-none.

Because school is not where MY children go to learn about religion, is it where yours do?

Answer 8

You can pray all you like in school. You just can't legislate prayer in schools.

Nobody is stopping kids from praying. What they are preventing is making prayer a part of the curriculum.

Answer 9

I'm Christian and am uncomfortable with it. The state may sanction my beliefs today, but unless we stand for the rights of all - I may find that only Islamic prayers are prayed in schools. That being said, if a child wants to pray and is not disturbing the classroom experience, they should be free to do so. Kids should also be allowed to join voluntary groups such as Bible clubs.

Answer 10

There is no fair way of doing it. My dad was a teacher in a town that was half Catholic and half Presbyterian. There were always fights over it when it was allowed. The Christians think it is going to be all smooth sailing, but it won't. There are areas that are primarily Muslim, and that will be an issue. There are areas that are primarily Jewish and that will be an issue.

There is no way this can work in a real world.