Prayer in Public Schools
The issue of prayer in public schools has been the subject of intense debate. That is because religious people would like for their children to be able to follow their religious teachings by praying in school but people who are not religious would prefer that religion was kept out of the public schools altogether. Prayer in public schools is also sometimes a problem for people who are religious but whose religions are not the religious traditions recognized in school prayers. The debate actually demonstrates the two fundamental ideas addressed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: (1) the establishment of religion by the government; and (2) the infringement of the free exercise of religion by the government.
The Two Constitutional Issues: Religious Infringement and Religious Establishment
When the Colonialists first left Britain to establish a new society in North America, one of the most important principles that they wanted to live by in America was the freedom to worship without the interference of the government. In Britain, the King required everyone to accept the Church or England and the royal authorities punished people for worshipping the "wrong" religion with imprisonment and death (Friedman, 2005). So when the Colonialists established colonial America, they hoped to build a society where everybody could worship freely instead of being required to accept the religion of the government...
Public School Prayer: Is it Constitutional and Moral? Proponents of allowing public school prayer cite both legal and moral reasons to allow prayer in public schools. On a legal basis they state that banning prayer in public schools is a violation of our First Amendment right of Free Exercise. From a moral standpoint they cite the so-called degeneration of the public school system and the so-called declining quality of public education
Prayer in School There was a time in America, where although the constitution guarantees a separation of church and state, many of the government institutions still encouraged or at least included components which were based on religious practices. In the past, the children of American public schools would enter the classroom, stand at attention for the pledge, and then join in with the class in prayer. In the locker room, the
Prayer in School and Its Historical Context: Prayer in schools is one of the major issues that put teachers, parents, and administrators at odds to an extent that even simple discussions regarding the subject can degenerate into heated debates. In most cases, discussions on prayer result in heated sidebars about morality, rates of crime, and the Constitution. Even though parents, teachers, and administrators continue to debate about prayer, children still have
Prayer at Public School Events During the last few years there has been passionate debates concerning prayer in public schools and at public school events. Advocates believe that it is not only a moral issue but prohibition of prayer in public schools denies their right of freedom of religion, while opponents claim it is a violation of separation of state and church. In fact, over recent decades, one of the most litigious
Prayer in public schools has been a subject of controversy ever since the Supreme Court ruled in 1962 that "any kind of prayer, composed by public school districts, even non-denominational, is unconstitutional government sponsorship of religion" (U.S. Supreme Court Decisions on Separation of Church and State web site). The next year the Court found that "Bible reading over the school intercom was unconstitutional" because it forced a child "to participate
Prayers in Public Schools In the case of Engel v. Vitale (1962), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prayer in the U.S. public school system was unconstitutional and that such prayers "breached the constitutional wall of separation between Church and State." Ever since, the courts around the country have consistently turned down the efforts to reinstitute even the most innocent expression of religious devotion in public funded schools in complete disregard
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