Preview

Prayer In Public Schools

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
824 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Prayer In Public Schools
Make It A Better Place First it didn’t strike, then it hit me. Prayer in school should be a matter of choice not law. During the colonial times, religion and prayer were an important part of school. This carried over into American school life for almost one hundred and fifty years, until the case of Engle v. Vitale (370 U.S. 421). This is one of the most important cases in the history of the supreme court 's. Since the removal of school prayer morals and values of youngsters have continuously deteriorated. We are constantly reminded by the news of school violence, students killing each other, as well as teachers who once were respected are being shot and killed by their students. Crime and violence in school is escalating, therefore when …show more content…
As school violence is escalating, religious influence in school is necessary to reach students morals and values. Banning student led prayer in school or a moment of silence violates student 's rights to religious freedom. Our government is based on Religious Principles. Majority of Americans favor organized prayer in public schools, therefore it should not be denied at school. Students often say “I 'm so busy trying to accomplish ten million things at once” when all they have to do is take a step back and slow down.

March 24, 1998 four girls and a teacher were shot to death and ten people wounded at a middle school in Joneboro, Ark. When two boys 11 and 13 opened fire from nearby woods. We are frequently
Barley 2 bombarded with this kind of news. Many religious leaders and government officials say that our nation is in a state of moral decay. What is frightening is many of the crimes and acts of violence of greatest concern are carried out by children and youths. More disturbing are the acts of violence committed by children against other children at
…show more content…
It seems America 's schools have everything except prayer. “Maybe the so called experts might finally realize that a nation that denies God in our school is a nation that encourages the devil in our schools.” (qtd. In Williams 150-151) A lot of Americans believe in the power of prayer. Most of us can agree that prayer does make us feel better. Prayer is an extension of religion and every religion is driven by moral values created by a individual. Giving students the opportunity to pray together would remind them of their religious beliefs, giving access to their faith will reduce violence. Those who object to school prayer believe otherwise and strongly favor the separation of church and state. First of all, prayer will not affect school violence or moral decline. Although some government officials like to blame everything bad in America on the absence of school prayer, opponents of school prayer believe our country 's social problem are caused by poverty, and lack of opportunity. Silent individual and personal prayer has always been allowed in public schools, however prayers led required or suggested by officials are unacceptable. It doesn’t matter whether it is student led or by a religious person. Prayer is not supposed to be mandatory according to the first amendment to the constitution. Lastly, opponents of school prayer believe

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    However, society stills considers this a contentious debate that shows this is still a sensitive topic among religious and non-religious Americans. Armstrong Williams writes in his article “We Need More Prayer”, “A few moments of prayer in schools seems a small thing - harmless enough, almost to the point of insignificance. Yet it has provoked an impassioned firestorm of debate about the dangers of imposing viewpoints…” Prayers is school may be innocent enough but it can and does marginal religious minorities. These debates being had throughout the country on the topic of religious prayers in public schools is an issue that almost certain will end in a stalemate. There are far too many voices that are being heard regarding this issue and none seems to be willing to compromise. But this is a good thing. People can agree to disagree and this is good for the country. Expression and speech are two great rights we have as US citizens and we have the right even compelled to use said rights. However the Government is not made up of one individual who has one voice and speaks for all. It is made up of many people with many voices that speak for everyone. Religious prayer simply cannot exist in schools because there are too many religions. It has too many voices of faith and faiths which hosts many different deities. Government and areas of public learning should just…

    • 1173 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The education of the nation’s youth has always been a contentious issue. One of the largest issues facing the education system is the integration of sectarian religions such as prayers into the classroom and other extensions of the education system. In the mid to late 1900s, several court cases went before the Supreme Court involving various aspects of state sponsored prayers. The two major cases involving prayers in schools were Engel v. Vitale and Abington v. Schempp. Within these two cases, the Court successfully and diligently balanced the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause and paved the way for the Lemon Test and Endorsement Test.…

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On April 20, 1999, two teens, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, went on a shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. They killed thirteen and wounded more than twenty before turning the guns on themselves. It was the worst school shooting in U.S. history. It caused a huge investigation to determine what motivated the boys. It was a pretty tragic event that changed the safe feeling that any high school student felt across the country.…

    • 584 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “Engel and four other parents -- two Jews, an atheist, a Unitarian, and another Protestant -- complained that the prayer was "contrary to the beliefs, religions, or religious practices of both themselves and their children." (Religion in public schools: Engel v. Vitale) After the five parents discussed this topic they came up with a case, and at the end found victory. ” The duty to uphold the Constitution is a fundamental difference between public schools and religious schools.” (Religion and Public Schools).…

    • 1697 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “…when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret” (Bible, Matt. 6:5-6). School prayers add conflict to education in many ways. As a result of the vast amount of religions in the United States, there are conflicts caused my disagreements of religion. “Japan, where no one prays at school, had the lowest crime rate of any developed nation” (Gaylor, 683). Religion should only be taught in private schools or organizations. The First Amendment was made for Freedom of religion, press, and expression, meaning that everyone has a right to pray, but not for public schools to convert the students into believe a certain religion. I strongly agree on Gaylor’s viewpoints of school prayers because I was felt in the same situation in the past. Public schools should stay open to different…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Engel V Vitale Essay

    • 1735 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In 1951, the New York State Board of Regents gave their approval for a prayer that was to be said every morning in school, along with the Pledge of Allegiance ("Engel v. Vitale (1962)"). The Regents believed this prayer would encourage children to be good citizens, along with other benefits such as developing good character. Although this prayer was not required, many students and parents were opposed to the idea and decided to fight against it. In 1962, a group of angry parents reached the Supreme Court and Engel v. Vitale took place. The parents argued that the school prayer violated the First Amendment, and the Supreme Court ruled in their favor. Engel v. Vitale is a very controversial Supreme Court case, but the Court definitely made the right decision. The separation of church and state is a fundamental part of the United States and it needs to be reinforced and preserved, which is exactly what Engel v. Vitale did.…

    • 1735 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I see school prayer as a moral issue because although it does state in the constitution the separation of church and state, I believe that this issue is just a conflict between religious people and liberal people that don’t believe in religion. I think it is morally wrong to force someone into a religion but I don’t see how prayer does that, if you don’t believe then don’t do the prayer and that is all. B. It is not proper for one religion to impose its morality and doctrine on another if and when they are doing it out of legal bounds, besides that I believe it is acceptable to say what you…

    • 806 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On December 14, 2012 the most horrific school shooting happened. A young man took the lives of innocent children and adults. No one knew what was ahead of them that Friday morning as they awoke and started their daily routines. Adam Lanza took the lives of 26 people. There are clear statements as to why this happened. The poor security, School Shooter video game, mental illness, and pedophilia are all causes to why this could have happened.…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This article was very surprising to me I was amase at what the findings from the survey were when it come to prayrer at public school graduations. The majority of prayer at public school graduation came from state in the south followed by states in the Midwest. State in the east came in third and sadly were I live state in the west came in last. But the most surprising and positive statistic came from the percentage of students that were involved in prayer at public school graduations, that percentage was 70 percent. That means that 70 percent of the time prayer at public schools was given by a students, which is a great number for our youth. It was also suprising that only 114 of the 4231 school districs had an actual policy regarding prayer at school. This was an interesting article I agree with what the author had to say but it was more about how schools were conducting prayer.…

    • 290 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Analysis Paper One

    • 2195 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory of development revolves around the concept that an individual is impacted by several distinct relationships during their lifetime. According to this theory, these relationships are broken down into five levels that represent an individual’s five major interactions during their life; microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. These five systems are based on the ecological theory that these continually changing environmental systems impact the individual throughout childhood and into adulthood. This paper will demonstrate Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory of development by looking at how it shaped this author’s development and influenced the direction that was taken in her life.…

    • 2195 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Prayer in Public Schools

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Since the US Supreme Court ruled that prayer should not be in public schools, it has changed the way Americans feel towards religion and state and it has also affected the upbringing of our children.…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Over seventy-six percent of the adolescents in America believe in a personal God (Regnerus). Despite this fact, the stigma surrounding the debate of separating school from religion mostly brings religious talk in education to a stand-still. Religion has presented itself in society for as long as history has recorded life in societies, and many individuals still practice their faith. In today’s society, however, teachers and educators rarely mention religion outside of Social Studies classes in public school systems. Yet, science has proven that allowing religion in lives affects and improves the quality of life. Public schools should allow religion because the presence increases test scores, results in better behavior, and leads to an overall happier life.…

    • 1845 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prayers in Schools

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages

    My name is Ericka Jaid Laurett heil. I have long brown hair and I have blue eyes and I am 5’6. My interests are drawing, playing Xbox, babysitting, watching family guy, and sleeping. My expectations for myself are to pass high school not failing any classes. I was close to failing my expectation because I failed math. But I took credit recovery and got the credit! I wish to be a pediatrician because I love kids and helping them and making them happy. Activities that I enjoy are volleyball, basketball and I used to play soccer but my knees and ankles are bad.…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    School Shooting Massacres

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Background: A school shooting is an incident in where gun violence occurs at an education institution. A school shooting can affect the students and workers who were in the shooting mentally and physically. The earliest known school shooting to ever take place in the United States was the Pontiac's Rebellion school massacre which happened on July 26, 1764. In this school massacre, four Lenape American Indians entered the school, shoot and killed Enoch Brown, and killed nine or ten children. It is either nine or ten because the reports can be shifted and changed. Only three children survived. There have been worst serious cases where a shooting had managed to take the lives of a couple of people.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    (“Major School Shootings”) Our children are dying, other children are living in fear. Some of the most known school shootings of this time period are the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the Virginia Tech shooting, and the Columbine High School shooting. The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting happened in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2014. At the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a 20 year old man opened fire killing twenty-six people, twenty of which were young children mainly aged six and seven.…

    • 1770 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays