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Should Prayer be permitted in Schools The issue of prayer in schools has been sharply debated since the First Amendment. Though, according to this law, students are allowed to exercise freedom of their speech in schools and on campus, the freedom of religious speech, i. e. prayers, remain not clear, because: 1) prayers in schools are very close to the problem of separation between religion and state; 2) in fact, the Constitution allows religious activity in public schools, but there are many limitations in this law; 3) the opponents of prayers in schools adduce the argument that state can not support the spread of mass prayers because this would be the act of religious propaganda; 4) the law that permits religious activity in schools has too many interpretations that finally become misleading for many principals and school teachers. Thus, it may be seen, that the issue of permitting prayer in school has pro and contra arguments. In my essay will discus the arguments of both sides and drive to my own opinion about this controversial issue.
I will also include the history of permitting prayers in schools and, at the end of the essay, come to my own conclusions concerning the possible future outcomes of this problem. First, as it has been mentioned, the Constitution permits much private religious activity in and about the public schools. This permission concerns prayers as well. So, students have the right to pray individually or in groups or to discuss their religious views with their peers so long as they are not disruptive. And according to this, students are allowed to commit the following: read Bibles or other Scriptures; say grace before their meals, pray before their tests; discuss their religion with other students who are willing to listen; pray quietly in classroom except when they are required to be actively engaged in classroom activities (for example, students can not decide to pray when the teacher calls them on); pray audibly or silently in informal settings (cafeteria, halls, corridors, washrooms, etc. ) wear T-shirts with religious texts and religious jewellery. Nevertheless, as B.
A. Robinson (1995) pointed out in his article, this religious freedom has many restrictions that are reflected in the Constitution as well. Thus, according to Robinson, the U. S law prohibits public schools from: Requiring students to recite prayers in class; Prayers before Board of Education meetings; Public prayers at high school games; Banning the wearing of religious clothing and symbols; Promoting any one denomination or religion at the expense of another faith group or secular philosophy; "Clergy in the Schools" project. These prohibitions seem to be fair but too restricting at the same time.
Opponents of schools prayers claims that public schools should remain neutral and do not take any of the sides in religion. This argument is supported by the fact that U. S. public schools are religiously diverse and by the act of promoting organized prayers they may breed intolerance. For example, students of religious minority may feel uncomfortable while praying with those of different beliefs.
However, there can be a compromise reached in this problem. Some school prayer lobbyists proposed non-denominational prayers that may be pronounced by a student of any religion. In addition, state-sponsored school Prayer is unconstitutional. This means that if public schools sponsor prayer, this act may undermine freedom clauses of the First Amendment. The interpretation of these clauses drives to the following: the Establishment Clause proscribes the establishment of religion in general including religious practices.
Since prayer is a religious exercise, state-supported prayer amounts to the establishment of a religious practice and is therefore unconstitutional. Thus, it may be seen, that though U. S. law permits prayers in schools, it forbids their establishment and sponsoring performed by these schools. Also, opponents of a school prayer think that state-sponsored prayer may violate expose students to prayer against their will or force them to absent themselves to avoid hearing prayers. So, it becomes clear that the effect of sponsoring prayers by state and by schools has a dubious nature: it officially permits prayers but at the same time it imposes some obligations that interfere with voluntariness in prayers.
Thus, prayer pronounced against ones will loose all its positive and beneficial power. Certainly, the power of prayer remains a strong argument in its favour. Prayer supporters state, that establishing prayers in public schools will help to fight some problems that have correlation with decline of morality of youth. Thus, religious men reason the necessity of school prayers in the following way: If students are forced to recite prayer each day, they will start realizing that they live in a Christian country where the government and its institutions support Christianity; The activity of Sunday schools and the houses of worship if not enough as these institutions are no longer popular about the modern youth; Prayer is beneficial for solving such problems as consuming drugs, teen pregnancy, school violence etc.
Prayer creates an aura of solemnity and order among the students. However, the opponents of school prayers claim that there in strong proof or evidence that prayer can improve morality of encourage students to lead their ethical lives. They attribute social problem to inequality, poverty, and lack of opportunity and believe that only serious analysis of these issues, not prayers, may improve the moral condition of public schools. I partially agree with this statement, but I would like to remind that lack of morality may equally inhere in rich and poor. Also I am certain that lack of opportunity may be considered to be a secondary cause of ones bad behaviour. Instead, prayer teaches to be patient, meek and modest.
I think those who say prayers are not likely to take revenge for their low social status or grow angry with the whole world for not having enough opportunity to do something. I am pro the idea of prayers in public schools because I believe that ones virtue and morality starts in ones heart and soul. To my mind, prayer is the thing that interrelates with ones inner world and purifies it. Thus, people need prayers, especially those young ones children and teenagers. I also believe that public schools must strengthen their pedagogic functioning. Students need to be taught how to be moral, kind and wise.
The best illustration of these features may be found in Bible and other Holy Scriptures. To my mind, these religious books may help our students to realise eternal truths: vice fights virtue in a human soul, man is weak and mortal, men are always seduced to step on a wrong way, but everything in our world is interrelated and interdependent: vice is punished, virtue is awarded. Thus, people should pray every day to keep this in mind. The similar point of view was stated long ago when the controversy over this issue only started. The history of setting prayer in public schools began in 1948, when the U. S.
Supreme Court eliminated religious instruction in public schools. Up to 1963, there were a number of rulings prayers and religious activity of students in schools: in 1954 distribution of Bibles was limited and in 1962 the Supreme Court, in Engel v. Vitale disallowed a government-composed, nondenominational "Regents" prayer which was recited by students. 1 n 1984 Equal Access Act required that religious clubs be permitted in public schools if other clubs which were also not related to the curriculum were already allowed. These religious groups had to be run by the students themselves, and could not be convened during class time. Membership in the group had to be voluntary. President Bill Clinton later, in 1995, said the following (a part of his talk to James Madison High School in Vienna, VA): nothing in the 1 st Amendment converts our public schools to religion-free zones or requires all religious expression to be left at the schoolhouse door.
Since that time there have been a significant relief in the issue of school prayers. The same year, the federal Department of Education issued the principals of religious freedom that are similar to the contemporary ones. The speech of Bill Clinton initiated the era of favourable attitude to school prayers and encouraged the acts and rulings that allowed more religious activity in public schools of the USA. I conclusion I would like to say that the tendency of fostering prayers in schools is growing nowadays.
Our community pays more attention to the beneficial power of a prayer and its positive influence on students behaviour and way of life. Prayers should be established in public schools because we need our children to believe in eternal truths and to commit their deeds in accordance with moral codes. Only in this I think we may get rid of such drawbacks and weaknesses in our society as: murder, violence, drugs, etc. I really hope that prayers will be established in schools and will help us and our children in our self-knowledge and self-perfection. Bibliography: Austin Cline, (2005) School Prayer, Religious Timelines. Agnosticism / Atheism.
Free Newsletter. A PRIMEDIA Company. 2005, 16 Mar. 2005
Prayers at Graduation Ceremonies in U. S. Public Schools. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 2001. 16 Mar. 2005 < web > B. A. Robinson.
Religion and Prayer in U. S. Public Schools. Religious Tolerance Org. Apr. 27 1995, 16 Mar. 2005 < web > Public Justice Report. 1995. 16 Mar. 2005
com / gems /cpj/School Prayer. pdf > Religion in Public Schools: A Joint Statement of Current Law. Slawomir Grunberg & Ben Crane 1999. 16 Mar. 2005 < web > Religion in Public Schools. Public School Prayer Persecution. Teach-Nology Tm. 2005. 16 Mar. 2005 < web > 8. The U.
S. Department of Education. Guidelines for Religion in the Public Schools. 2005. 16 Mar. 2005 < web >
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