Religion in Public Schools
? Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof......O according to the First Amendment of the Constitution.
This idea of freedom of religion has been stated very clearly, but it also raises
questions about the meaning of religious freedom . Should religious expression be
excluded from all government activities? Has separation of church and state been violated
by the U.S.
Treasury? For example, on the back of every U.S. coin are the words, ?In God We TrustO.
And what about when they swear-in
government offficials with a Bible? Why not use the Torah or the Koran?
Is it separation of church and state when Congress opens
each session with a Christian prayer? The following prayer was
recited at the start of the November 30, 1994 session:
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We pray, O God, for the bread for the sustenance of
our bodies and spiritual food for the nourishment of our souls. In a world where
much seems to be discouraging and where problems appear at every corner, we pray
that the human spirit will not be taught by cynicism or despair, but rejoice in the
possibilities of every new day and accept all Your blessings with thanksgiving.
Amen.
For some people in the Congress this raises serious questions about when prayer is or
is not appropriate. One of the Representatives from Oklahoma made this comment in the
Congressional Digest on November 30, 1994: ? It was fine for Rev. James David Ford to
offer this prayer, yet it is a prayer our children our not allowed to say in schoolO.
Since no amendment has been made allowing or prohibiting prayer, many schools have gone
ahead and recited verses from the bible and allowed prayer in class. Another area of
controversy has been the presence of religious symbols on the
school grounds. Schools such as the one in Livingston have gone to court over the
wearing or carrying of objects such as the SikhOs kirpans. All these examples point to
the fact that there
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are severe disagreements on the subject of religion in the schools.
Religion in public schools has been around many years. In fact, it started in the
colonial period of United States history when the schools were thought to be an arm of
the church; therefore, their curriculum contained religion. Of course, their schools
didnOt have many or probably any Muslims or Jews, but how does that differ from a small
country town in Oklahoma where the population is completely of the Christian faith?
Does this mean that the school cannot practice the religion in which the complete
population is Christian? ArenOt these students being denied their religious rights?
These questions may be asked by many.
Government has a lot to do with the debate. Many Supreme Court rulings have made laws
allowing or prohibiting the act of praying in schools in the past eighty years. The
first one was in 1914 when the ?Gary PlanO was inaugurated in
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Gary,Indiana.The document stated that with the consent of parents, students would be
released from school to attend places to worship. That was followed in 1940 when the
Gary Plan was extended to Champaign, Illinois. It was struck down by the Court in
?McCollum v. Board of EducationO in 1948. Another important
decision was the Engel v. Vitale case in 1962 which said that it was unconsitutional for
there to be recitation in public schools even though it was non-denominational. The
Supreme Court has also ruled against posting the Ten Commandments in public school
classroomsin 1978. Since the l980Os the Supreme Court has allowed religious groups to
use university facilities for
extracurricular meetings (1981) and in 1984 Congress enacted the Equal Access Act which
means that religious groups as well as non-religious groups can have access to school
premises during noninstructional time.
The idea to add an amendment to the Constitution has brought a lot of attention to the
issue of religion in school. The
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people in favor of the amendment probably donOt like the way the Supreme Court ruled
when it said in ?Wallace v. JaffreeO that it was unconstitutional to provide for a minute
of silence because it endorsed State prayer activities.
There are two views about this controversy. Those who are for an amendment in the
Constitution to allow prayer in schools believe that the majority of Americans want
prayers in
school. A Readers Digest from 1993 showed that in a poll, 75% of the United States
strongly favored prayer in the public schools and wished to restore it. Meet the people I
call the ?ProOsO.
The ?ProsO feel that prayer in public schools will restore positive values in
kids. In a world where Senator Jesse Helms states ?You can almost stand on the Capitol
steps and throw a throw a rock into a neighborhood where you cannot walk at night,O there
is the need to improve the nationOs values. These Pros feel that reciting prayers will
help to restore respect for themselves and others. The Pros hope it will reduce the
crime and instill morals that will improve their life. 6
The other reason why the majority of the United States wants to regain the right to pray
in schools because they feel that our founding fathers didnOt mean for such a strict
separation of church and state. This meaning that they donOt think the writers of the
Constitution intended for there to be a law against praying in public schools. All they
were trying to do was keep all religions equal in the eyes of the government.
The ?ProsO would say that it is the governmentOs job to stay out
of this area altogether and let the people decide what they want
to do.
There are many reasons why there should not be prayer in schools. The people that
feel prayer is not necessary in schools are called ?ConsO. They feel that prayer
shouldnOt be allowed in schools because religion doesnOt have a place in school.
Freedom of religion covers the right to worship or not worship but it does not belong in
schoool. It is not in the curriculum; therefore not required.
Another objection to prayer in school is that there would be too many faiths to deal
with and the generic or a universal 7 prayer might be meaningless. They also
fear that a universal prayer would offend some people.
On the other hand if the schools let the students meditate or pray it might lead to
friction between students who want to pray
and those who think it is a waste of time. Some parents fear that their child might get
picked on for the way they worship or how they dress. The expression of religion might
lead to more intolerance. These people agree religion in schools might lead to
segregation and separation in schools.
At one point before I researched this subject I believed that religion should be
allowed in public school. But now I feel that it is not necessary and probably would be
better off without it. The schools have enough problems to deal with. Besides, school
isnOt a place of worship. It is a place of learning and I feel it should stay that way.
I do feel that occasionally you should think of (in my case) God or who ever else you
worship,
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but I donOt think people need to go overboard and recite prayers as a class.
Every Sunday I go to church for one hour. That amount of time and a prayer before dinner
is enough to let my God know I love him. Maybe in different religions they feel
differently, but whatever people think I agree that worship time is worship time, and
school time is school time. You can bet that religion is going to open up a whole new can
of problems,so letOs work with the cards we have now, before we deal some more.
As we pass through the 104th Congress, House Speaker Newt Gengrich has set a goal of
passing a constitutional amendment by the 4th of July that promises that children in our
public schools will have a right to voluntary prayer. LetOs see if he succeeds.
Armstrong, James . ?Freedom of Religion.O World Book
Encyclopedia,1991, Volume 4, p. 505.
.Ferguson, M.L. The American Principle of the Separation of
Church and State. Waco,Texas, Baylor University Press, p.45.
?Prayer In School-Still A Troubling ProblemO. U.S. News &
World Report, Feb. 8 1975, p.101.
Roth, Cecil. ?Religion in Public SchoolsO. Merit Student
Encyclopedia, 1967, Volume15, p.146.
?Should a School Prayer Constitutional Amendment be
Approved by Congress?O, Congressional Digest, January
1995, p. 18-20.
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