Prayer in Schools and Its Constitutionality
In recent years, the government's priorities have shifted substantially toward foreign policy decisions, in light of international terrorism and the need for increased cooperation to protect the global community from this threat. Although the foreign policy discussion is an important one, it has taken precedence over many of the domestic policy debates which are still unresolved in our nation. One of these disputes is the issue of prayer in schools and its constitutionality. Despite a Supreme Court decision making school-sanctioned prayer in classrooms illegal, many methods of endorsing prayer at school-sponsored events have been undertaken in a circuitous attempt to avoid the rules set up by Engel v. Vitale.1 These attempts to circumvent the Court's ruling regarding school prayer have included prayers at graduation ceremonies and prayers at sporting events, broadcast over a school-financed loudspeaker system and, in many situations, performed by a member of the clergy. These efforts have been rejected by the Court on several occasions, from the banning of religious clergy delivering a benediction at graduate ceremonies to the prohibition of student-led prayer over the school's broadcasting system at a football game.2 Th
This paper has given a brief introduction to the debate regarding prayer in public schools as sponsored by the government. It asserts that these activities are not only detrimental to the school system and to individual religions as a whole, but that they have been determined unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in various rulings. Based on these facts, prayers that are organized and enacted by school officials is not a positive development for our school system and should be removed from practice in all aspects of school events. The benefits of banning school prayer are many. First of all, the overall objective of separating church and state is partially accomplished by removing organized prayer from the public schools. This action, in turn, upholds the values on which our nation was founded. Secondly, the removal of organized prayer can prevent any undue influence on young children regarding their own religious beliefs. Religion is an intensely private choice, and to give the idea that "everyone" is of a certain belief system or that the teachers and school endorse a certain method of prayer and religion can be very influential on young minds, coercing them to choose a certain belief system over others based on its perceived popularity and acceptance among their peers and government authorities. Finally, the banning of school prayer benefits the nation as a whole by allowing religions to operate separately from the government realm; religions are, by their nature, denominational and varied in their beliefs-one Christian church's prayer is not a fit for the worship style of another Christian church. In removing prayer from the public school, the debate over which style of p
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Approximate Word count = 1144
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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