Good question.
I don’t think that prayer should be prohibited in schools. Its the endorsement of Christianity by the school via interrupting or postponing class time for prayer that I object to. Nor do I agree with schools trumping other religions with Christian displays and by requiring them to sing Christian songs to pass music class.
Why do children need to pray in school, anyways?
If prayer is a normal part of one’s life why should it not also occur in schools?
What was the motivation of those that fought against prayer in schools and/or religious displays?
Someone will have to show me where in the Constitution the much loved term “Separation of church and State” is because it isn’t in there. Never was. That was taken from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to a group of ladies in Danbury, Connecticut. The purpose was to explain the freedom OF religion, not freedom From religion. Far too many people like to quote from the Constitution having never read it in it’s entirety (much like those who claim to have read the Bible).
Parents of other religions objecting to their children be subject to the school’s dominate religion.
Would you have been okay with the schools you sent your children to observing Muslim prayer schedules, displaying Muslim sacraments and requiring them to sing traditional Muslim songs out of respect to the predominately Muslim community? Especially if there were no Christian displays or Christian songs sung?
Yep.
Sad really.
Are you OK with the public accommodations being made in schools, airports and colleges for those who practice Mohamedism?
Christian prayer in school, is not about making anyone subject to anything. It is asking for God’s blessing, protection or help. It is the teaching of creationism, that the other side fears so much, which is why they fight so hard to suppress it.
Yes, ironically, those ladies (the Danbury Baptist) wrote to Jefferson precisely because of the misunderstanding that we are now being beat up with. His attempt to clarify the issue actually did more harm than good two centuries later. It has been deliberately misrepresented through the use of circular reasoning that if one states something long enough and loud enough that validates the fallacy. The dumbing down of the general population through (again, ironically) the piss poor schools over the last 40 plus years has been very successful in producing an populace completely ignorant of American history, civics and standard education disciplines / curriculum. I never had to but I can remember my older sister having to take Latin in high school in rural Mississippi back in the early 60s. Today, sadly many high school grads can’t read well enough to fill out a job application at Hardee’s.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
In case you are still wondering, its the First Amendment.
If the accommodations are private, without use of taxpayer funds and without any affect on the services being rendered- no.
Why does a child need to pray in school?
You can’t just pick the part that supports your position Nick.
What does the second clause mean?
There are thousands of reasons a child might have. To stop a Bully, help with a test, for wisdom or courage, a teacher or classmates need.
I’m not the one cherry picking here. I have no problem with persons expressing their religious beliefs in public as the constitution protects, I have a problem with the government endorsing religion(s). I fail to see how displaying the Ten Commandments in a public school, requiring the children to sing Christian songs or designating prayer time is not endorsement of religion.
Let a child pray in school in a private room is he or she likes, on his or her free time. But let’s keep our public schools free of the religious bias that plagued them for centuries.
Has there ever been such a law made establishing a religion? No. Again, it is freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. Practice whatever religion you want, wherever you want. I believe what has most Christians up in arms is all recent the accommodations made for all other religions in the public arena to the exclusion of Judaism and Christianity. Many local governments (and school districts) have bent over backwards to insure the Muslims, Wicans, etc. are not offended and then illegally gone to extreme efforts to wipe out any sign of these two religions. The American Center for Law and Justice has won dozens and dozens of cases before the Supreme Court where individuals have been denied their first amendment right to practice their “brand” of religion and in each and every case it was Christianity that was being denied. The majority of these have been in schools involving students but some have been municipalities. You won’t hear of these in the news.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The separation of church and state is a legal and political principle derived from the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . .” The phrase “separation of church and state”, which does not appear in the Constitution itself, is generally traced to an 1802 letter by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists, where Jefferson spoke of the combined effect of the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. It has since been quoted in several opinions handed down by the United States Supreme Court.
BTW, In my opinion the overwhelmingly one sided political views taught in public schools are far more alarming and harmfull than a students voluntary prayer.
Won’t get an argument from me on that. Arguing the numerous tenants of religions is like arguing about beauty amongst pigs but the original intent of the Constitution has been polluted and perverted by some to the detriment of all.