Supporting School Prayer:
"It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible."
-George Washington, 1796
The issue at hand is a majority vs. minority problem. Those supporting the return of prayer to public schools claim it will reduce violence, drug use, teenage pregnancy, and other problems that have increased since the 1960s. They also say that school prayer would encourage morality, and that America has a long history of reciting prayers in school. America was founded by Christians on Christian values, and the Founding Fathers would have supported prayer in public schools.
Against School Prayer:
"…the Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion…"
-Treaty of Tripoli, ratified by the US Senate 1797
Those opposed to school prayer claim it is a violation of their First Amendment's establishment clause (the government "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"). They claim that, by leading prayer in schools, the government has established religion. Students are already free to privately pray at home, in their temples, in the halls of school, during class, during breaks, and before and after school, and thus the government is not infringing on their ability to practice their religion. Religion should be a private subject--it is not the responsibility of the government to indoctrinate children.
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One solution proposed to the conflict would to allow nondenominational prayers or prayers from different religious sects. The problem with this is that thousands of groups will each want prayer time. One day might be a Catholic prayer, the next day, a Baptist, the next day, Mormon, the next day, Orthodox Jewish, the next day, Shi'ite Muslim, the next day, Pastafarian...
Another solution proposed is the "moment of silence". While it is nondenominational, it allows a quiet moment for each student to pray, meditate, or daydream as he or she wishes, which cuts into instructional time.
Do you support or oppose school prayer? Why or why not?
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