Prayer In Schools Research Paper
Prayer in schools; for a very long time, prayer in schools has been a very controversial issue. Prayer is known as a spiritual communion with God or an object of worship, as in supplication, thanksgiving, adoration, or confession. This issue was actually first brought up in 1962 when a young girl was forced to participate in prayers at school. Since then, her case, with the help of American Atheists Organization, prayer has been banned from schools to the point where it could not be led my any member of the faculty. Our country has been revolved around religion, and even dates back to 1796, when George Washington said, that “It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible.” Our founding fathers believed completely that the
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New Nation existed because of God’s will. They would not have supported removing prayer from schools. Lately, there have been many problems and issues with the words “under God” and many people have fought and tried to get them removed from the National Anthem.
Here are some facts about school prayer:
-In 1647, the first school system was established to ensure that children would grow up having the ability to read the bible.
-The prayer that caused the nationwide controversy in 1962 was just 22 words long, it was known as the Regents’ Prayer.
-The founder of the modern public school system in the United States believed the moral instruction and Bible reading should be a part of the school curriculum.
-The Treaty of Tripoli of 1796 was used in a court case to exclude Bible reading from schools.
-Public schools had practiced public prayer for 200 years, which makes it a beneficial practice in our school systems.
-The United States Constitution protects every student’s and teacher’s right to pray in school.
-The First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion".
-Our government has been based on religious principles since the beginning.
-From 1960-1990, divorce doubled, teenage pregnancy went up 200%, teen suicide increased 300%, child abuse reached an all-time high, violent crime went up 500% and abortion increased 1000%.
In Colonial America, the schools were mostly run by churches.
School prayer was just a natural part of their school life. The first settlers in America felt that it was important that children learned to read, solely for the purpose of reading their bibles. In 1690, the New England Primer was introduced to the school system, because it taught spelling, reading, and the Alphabet using Bible verses. Next, Noah Webster introduced the Blue Book Speller which also used Bible verses to teach. This was very successful in the schools and taught both reading and good morals at the same time. Later, in 1836, the McGuffey Reader was introduced and produced some of the world’s brightest inventors and set the Industrial revolution in motion. This was how schools were run until the 1890’s when the States started to take control of the existing schools. By 1900 many new text books were starting to be used and they all had Bible quotes in them. As the 20th Century rolled around, many classrooms still started the day with the pledge of allegiance, a prayer, and a reading from the Bible. But still, quite a few churches turned their schools over to the State run educational system. At this time, America had one of the best school systems in the world. Things were going very well for the schools, until in 1925, when the ACLU, which stands for the American Civil Liberties Union, paid a teacher to start teaching Evolution. Biblical creation had been taught for many years, and teaching evolution was against the
law. Prayer in schools has not only been an issue for us here in the United States, but all over the world, in countries such as the United Kingdom, Turkey, and France. In the United Kingdom, The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 states that all pupils in state schools must take part in a daily act of collective worship, unless their parents request that they be excused from attending. In Turkey, Muslim is the predominant religion and school prayer is unknown and suspected religious motivations can cause many difficulties for them. Another country is France, which is declared a secular state, so therefore has no school prayer, and students are advised to keep their religious faith private and may be censured if they display it too openly.
Some people are for having prayer in schools, and some are against. There are many arguments for both sides; here are some from people who are for prayer in public schools. People argue about how prayer in schools breaks the line between church and state, but then for years and years, congress has been opened with prayer, the courts use the bible for oath-takings, and our currency has “In God We Trust” printed on it. If the line between church and state can be blurred at this level, then prayer should be allowed in schools too. Banning prayers in school could mean depriving children of their freedom of religion. It is important to base education on moral values and principles. Having prayer in school would provide a moral and an ethical spirit to the school children, and I think that it would also give the children humility and discipline. Why is it that we cannot openly honor our religion? Why must we be silent about it, and not teach it. If teachers in public schools are able to teach evolution, the big bang, and many other theories; then why shouldn’t they be allowed to teach creationism?
It is impossible for teachers, administrators, or even the government to take prayer out of schools completely. They cannot control what a student thinks about, or what they do. What is a teacher going to do if they see students say a silent prayer before a test, what can they do? The research has shown that some students have gotten into trouble for silently praying before a test, but there is nothing a teacher can do about it, it is not against the law.
In schools, why it that Christians are expected to respect everyone else’s religion, but when it comes to the creation of our world, they can’t respect Christians enough to show their beliefs. When a poll was taken between teachers, students, and the public, 90% said that they would like creationism to be taught in schools either with evolution, or without it. But yet, only about 15% of schools teach creationism.
I think that prayer should be allowed in schools, because of how it would benefit the students. Research has clearly shown that teenagers are getting into more trouble and that our society is also in trouble. Allowing prayer in schools would better the students in every way, and I think it would help solve a lot of problems in schools today. I think that it would be a good idea to have just a few minutes before class starts every morning, just a time for silence, when students may think about whatever they need to, or they can pray a quick prayer before classes start.
New Nation existed because of God’s will. They would not have supported removing prayer from schools. Lately, there have been many problems and issues with the words “under God” and many people have fought and tried to get them removed from the National Anthem.
Here are some facts about school prayer:
-In 1647, the first school system was established to ensure that children would grow up having the ability to read the bible.
-The prayer that caused the nationwide controversy in 1962 was just 22 words long, it was known as the Regents’ Prayer.
-The founder of the modern public school system in the United States believed the moral instruction and Bible reading should be a part of the school curriculum.
-The Treaty of Tripoli of 1796 was used in a court case to exclude Bible reading from schools.
-Public schools had practiced public prayer for 200 years, which makes it a beneficial practice in our school systems.
-The United States Constitution protects every student’s and teacher’s right to pray in school.
-The First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion".
-Our government has been based on religious principles since the beginning.
-From 1960-1990, divorce doubled, teenage pregnancy went up 200%, teen suicide increased 300%, child abuse reached an all-time high, violent crime went up 500% and abortion increased 1000%.
In Colonial America, the schools were mostly run by churches.
School prayer was just a natural part of their school life. The first settlers in America felt that it was important that children learned to read, solely for the purpose of reading their bibles. In 1690, the New England Primer was introduced to the school system, because it taught spelling, reading, and the Alphabet using Bible verses. Next, Noah Webster introduced the Blue Book Speller which also used Bible verses to teach. This was very successful in the schools and taught both reading and good morals at the same time. Later, in 1836, the McGuffey Reader was introduced and produced some of the world’s brightest inventors and set the Industrial revolution in motion. This was how schools were run until the 1890’s when the States started to take control of the existing schools. By 1900 many new text books were starting to be used and they all had Bible quotes in them. As the 20th Century rolled around, many classrooms still started the day with the pledge of allegiance, a prayer, and a reading from the Bible. But still, quite a few churches turned their schools over to the State run educational system. At this time, America had one of the best school systems in the world. Things were going very well for the schools, until in 1925, when the ACLU, which stands for the American Civil Liberties Union, paid a teacher to start teaching Evolution. Biblical creation had been taught for many years, and teaching evolution was against the
law. Prayer in schools has not only been an issue for us here in the United States, but all over the world, in countries such as the United Kingdom, Turkey, and France. In the United Kingdom, The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 states that all pupils in state schools must take part in a daily act of collective worship, unless their parents request that they be excused from attending. In Turkey, Muslim is the predominant religion and school prayer is unknown and suspected religious motivations can cause many difficulties for them. Another country is France, which is declared a secular state, so therefore has no school prayer, and students are advised to keep their religious faith private and may be censured if they display it too openly.
Some people are for having prayer in schools, and some are against. There are many arguments for both sides; here are some from people who are for prayer in public schools. People argue about how prayer in schools breaks the line between church and state, but then for years and years, congress has been opened with prayer, the courts use the bible for oath-takings, and our currency has “In God We Trust” printed on it. If the line between church and state can be blurred at this level, then prayer should be allowed in schools too. Banning prayers in school could mean depriving children of their freedom of religion. It is important to base education on moral values and principles. Having prayer in school would provide a moral and an ethical spirit to the school children, and I think that it would also give the children humility and discipline. Why is it that we cannot openly honor our religion? Why must we be silent about it, and not teach it. If teachers in public schools are able to teach evolution, the big bang, and many other theories; then why shouldn’t they be allowed to teach creationism?
It is impossible for teachers, administrators, or even the government to take prayer out of schools completely. They cannot control what a student thinks about, or what they do. What is a teacher going to do if they see students say a silent prayer before a test, what can they do? The research has shown that some students have gotten into trouble for silently praying before a test, but there is nothing a teacher can do about it, it is not against the law.
In schools, why it that Christians are expected to respect everyone else’s religion, but when it comes to the creation of our world, they can’t respect Christians enough to show their beliefs. When a poll was taken between teachers, students, and the public, 90% said that they would like creationism to be taught in schools either with evolution, or without it. But yet, only about 15% of schools teach creationism.
I think that prayer should be allowed in schools, because of how it would benefit the students. Research has clearly shown that teenagers are getting into more trouble and that our society is also in trouble. Allowing prayer in schools would better the students in every way, and I think it would help solve a lot of problems in schools today. I think that it would be a good idea to have just a few minutes before class starts every morning, just a time for silence, when students may think about whatever they need to, or they can pray a quick prayer before classes start.