In the past Religion was confined to the state now with religiousfreedom everything has changed or at least started to change.
In order forreligion to be in a private school now it is again trying to be in Publicschools. People ask “why can’t freedom to acknowledge god be enjoyed againby children in every schoolroom across this land?” In the past, along time ago children always prayed before class started and before lunch. But things h ave changed, “in 1791 the separation of church andstate” started. Although it was made clear about the separation ofthe two “as late as 1951 some twenty states permitted schools to begin theday by reading aloud a passage of the bible.
” Bu t that had to stop. People didn’t have the same beliefs when it comes to religion, if a familyabsent even believe in god why should their child be forced to pray? Onmany different occasions questions similar to this one were brought up andcomplained about. That is what started it all real big. When complaining, arguing and fighting all started over the silentmoment. In 1978 a few lawyers got together and considered a constitutionallaw. The original law said that public school teachers in gr ades 1-6″shall announce that a period of silence, not to exceed one minute, shallbe observed for meditation.
” This law did not work for long, because itstill allowed oral prayer in public high schools. Later in 1981, theAlabama State Senator D onald G. Holmes successfully passed a bill thatincluded all grades calling it “the moment of silence” this law said that”the teacher (was) to announce that the silent moment may be used forvoluntary prayer. ” Although it would have to be si lent prayer. Even afterthis new law started the lawyers that were opposed to this were trying tosay that students “do not have a right to pray in school” silently orotherwise because of growing impressions that affect their life.
Thesilent mom ent supposedly “(forced) religion on children. ” I don’t agreewith that at all, if there has to be a moment of silence then any child canuse that moment however he or she wants, it does not necessarily have to beused fro prayer. Usually “the chi ldren who have been brought up withprayer or some type of religion are usually proven to be better” kids. Ihave friends who go to private schools where praying in class out loud isperfectly O.
K. and normal. This praying in the classroom usually wouldhave a pretty good size affect on the rest of a person’s life. Althoughwhen praying aloud it could force one type of religion on a student ratherthan having them have more of a choice of what type of religion they wantor if they even want to ha ve a religion. When there would be the religionin the classrooms.
“School children not participating in the prayers orthe bible readings (would be) asked or required to leave the room. “0 Thishas been another big dispute because the bill of rig hts states that thereshall be “freedom of religion”1 therefore this means that if a person doesnot believe in god or what ever the instance might be then they don’t haveto. This means if you want to have any type of religion you may. Thechildr en who are forced to leave the classroom to stand in the hall areforced to make a statement that says “we do not believe in te god of testate (or) we do not believe that prayer should be publicly displayed in apublic schoolhouse.
“This was all thought to be by mainly every one allwrong, therefore if a child wished not to participate in the pledge oallegiance or what ever it might be they did not have to leave theclassroom, stand silently in the halls, or write a statement in stead theywere allowed to just sit quietly in their seats. Religion in public schools would be good for certain students but thesilent moment is good enough for now. Since religion has been tried inpublic schools and hasn’t exactly worked, the groups of children who wishto have prayer meetings with other school members are allowed to havemeetings, groups, clubs, ect. before, at lunch or after school. “Religion (in the public schools) can change a persons life”3 if aparent wants their child to have religion they can send their child to aprivate school and if a parent does not want their child to pressured in tohaving a religion they should be able to send their child to a publicschool and if he or she wishes to atend meetings then they can do so ontheir own.
Religion can change a person life sometimes for the better, but thenagain sometimes for the worse, although the silent moment cannot affectanything “freedom to acknowledge god in every school room across thisland,”4 wouldn’t al ways be a bad idea. BIBLIOGRAPHY”School Board Bans Open Forums to Prohibit a Student Group Prayer. “ChristToday(February 1, 1985) 48-49. Bosmajian, Haig. “To Pray or Not to Pray”The HumanistMagazine,(January/February, 198 5) 13-17. Gest, Ted.
“What High Court Heard About School Prayer. “U. S. News,(December 17, 1984) 71. Lewis, C. Anne.
“Creeping Religiosity and Federal Education Policy. “PHIDelta Kappan,(November, 1984) 163-164. Roberts, Fransis. “The Uproar Over Sch ool Prayer.
“Parents,(January18,1985) 55-57. FOOTNOTESFransis Roberts, “The Uproar Over School Prayer,”Parents,(November,1984), p. 38. Roberts, p.
39. Roberts, p. 38Beth Spring, “Can St ates Allow Prayer in Public Schools?”NewsWorld,(January 18, 1985), p. 56.
Spring, p. 57Roberts, p. 38Spring, p. 57Ted Gest, “What High Court Heard About School Prayer,”U. S.
News,(December 17, 1984), p. 71 . Haig Bosmajian, “To Pray or Not To Pray,”TheHumanist(January/February, 1985), p. 14.
0Bosmajian, p. 15. 1Gest, p. 71.
2Bosmajian, p. 15. 3Anne Lewis, “Creeping Religiosity and Federal EducationPolicy,”PHI Delta Kappan,(November, 1984), p. 163. 4Roberts, p.
38THESISFreedom to acknowledge God by children in every school room across thisland can sometimes but not always be acknowledged.
