Contrary to the claims, students have the Constitutional right to pray inschool, either individually or in informal groups so long as the prayer is notorganized by the school.
But if the students only knew what they were reallydoing by praying in school. II. First of all they are going against the Bible. As to quote, Matthew 6:5-6: “And when you pray, do not be like thehypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the streetcorners. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray. .
. “So as you can see those who pray in places such as the cafeteria, middle of thehall or things of that nature is actually going against the bible. Now I am notsaying that a person should not pray in schools, but they should do it just asthe Bible says in a personal place. If a student can’t find a personal place,and have an undesirable need to pray, they need to not make a big deal out ofit.
Praying as put in the Bible is a personal experience between that person andGod. Not an event to be proclaimed up and down the hallway. III. Another problemthere is with praying in schools is the fact that there are some students whodon’t believe in God.
The purpose of a democracy is to have the majority decidebut yet always respect the rights of the minority. Some administrators,teachers, parents, and most importantly, kids, just feel uncomfortable when itcomes to religion. Several factors could be attributed to this problem, from toomany religions and religious theories to religious pressure to lack thereof. Butwhatever the reason some people feel offended by seeing these students pray. They think that their rights are being infringed upon.
Well in example, if ashirt some student is wearing offends a person they tell someone about beingoffended. Someone else is also offended and so they tell someone. These 2 peopleinfluenced by what they have heard tell more people. This chain reactioncontinues until that kind of shirt is not allowed in schools, in exampleMarilynn Manson shirts. The minority there is the students wanting to wear theshirts; the majority is the people offended by it.
The majority spoke and theminority is told to fallow. But now it is the minority being offended no onecares to do anything about it. IV. The last problem I have are the advocates ofschool prayer say that without it there is moral decline, blaming the absence ofschool prayer for everything from low SAT scores to teenage pregnancy.
But itjust won’t work. In fact, legislated school prayer would make things worse. Fora school to require students to recite, for example, a Christian prayer wouldgive Christianity a special status, implying that other religions are somehowinferior. One religion would be pitted against another, conflicts would arise,and intolerance would grow. The only palatable compromise in a directed publicschool prayer would be a watered-down prayer that would be meaningless to thedeeply religious and an infringement on those who follow no religion.
Some ofour senators are trying to pass an amendment in have school prayer required. Butthe First Amendment begins “Congress shall make no law respecting anestablishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. . . ” Ifwe were to have this school wide required prayer we would be in essanceestablishing a religion.
And even though what they are trying to pass is aconstitutional amendment it goes against on of the main things our forefatherscame here for. The First Amendment is one of the finest laws man has everwritten. For over two hundred years, it continues to mean exactly what it wasoriginally intended to mean: Religion and other fundamental rights should remainbeyond the reach of majorities and governments, and certainly not subjected tothe political whims of Congress. Bibliography”FAQ.
” Prayer in Schools. http://www. atheists. org/schoolhouse/faqs. prayer. html.
Downloaded December 16, 1999 “Maryland teen walks out of Graduation overPrayer. ” Prayer in schools. http://www. freedomforum. org/religion/1999/5/28mdgradprayer. aspDownloaded December 16, 1999 “Smudge Report.
” Bible verse. http://www. smudgereport. com/longstories/prayer. htmlDownloaded December 16, 1999 “Bible Belivers should oppose schoolprayer.
” School Prayer. http://users. cnmnetwork. com/lotl2k/prayer.
htmlDownloaded December 16, 1999 “The Bible and Public Prayer. ” PublicPrayer. http://www. religioustolerance.
org/prayer. htm. Downloaded December 16,1999Religion
