America’s Decline: Banning Prayer in Public Schools
Raymond Ballou
PHI 200
Instructor: Michelle Loudermilk
3/31/12

America’s Decline: Banning Prayer in Public Schools A very controversial widespread issue today is the right to have volunteer prayer in public schools. This issue has been constantly debated for years whether prayer in public schools should be permitted. For more than 200 years, public schools were allowed voluntary prayer. Our forefathers built our nation on Christian values. The first English settlers came to America for the right to freedom and to worship God in their own way. In Colonial America, most schools were run by the churches. The first settlers in America felt that it was important that children learned to read so that they could read their Bibles. Prayer has been a part of our culture as long as there have been public schools; this helped the students develop morals and learn right from wrong. School prayer was a natural part of the settler’s school life. There is a casual relationship between taking prayer out of our schools and the downfall of our society today. The basic dispute over this issue is that it violates The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and the separation of church and state. The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States gives every individual the same rights. One right is the constitutional protection for the free exercise of religion. The second right is prohibition of the establishment of religion by the state. The founders of the constitution recognized the freedom of religion as an important factor in establishing a democracy. They also recognized freedom between government and the people. Our founding fathers had no intentions of divorcing prayer from government-much less from our children in their schools (Bartlett, 1974). The government could not force an individual or group to do something that they did not want to do. The government is not holding up their part of the constitution. They are forcing society to stop praying in public schools and that is unconstitutional. The First Amendment declares that Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof... (Congressional Digest, 1964). The problem of whether or not public schools may have prayer in schools depends almost completely on two clauses of the First Amendment, often referred to as the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. Even though these two clauses were written into the Bill of rights, there would be no challenge to school sponsored prayer until the mid-twentieth century. The main reason for school prayer wasn’t challenged was that the First Amendment does not actually restrict individual states from making laws regarding religion. After the Civil War and the introduction of the Fourteenth Amendment, it eliminated the ability of the states to, “abridge the privileges or immunities of its citizens” that we were guaranteed in the Constitution (Greenawalt, 2005). It was not until 1962, in the case of Engel v. Vitale, that the Supreme Court ruled that the voluntary prayer to begin the school day was unconstitutional (Congressional Digest, 1964). The decision to ban school prayer became very unpopular in many school districts that they simply disregarded it.
The issue of prayer in public schools is one of the most debated topics in our school system today. There are many arguments against school prayer. The two most prominent arguments against school prayer are “separation of church and state” and “violation of the Constitution” (Foster, 1995). Those that oppose school prayer also argue that religion is private and has no place in schools because schools are public, so the only solution is to keep them separated; and if prayer is allowed in public schools it would create barriers between the children that do not have any sort of religious beliefs. There are several reasons why those that oppose school prayer feel the way they do. They feel that neither schools nor the government should encourage any type of prayer sessions in the public schools. Teachers, administrators and concerned citizens need to oppose all forms of school prayer in public schools, regardless of whether or not there is a particular school prescribed prayer or whether each student creates his or her own prayer. They believe that setting aside valuable time of the school day for prayer, is taking away from the students learning and that the state is giving support to religious practices. They also feel that, public schools are government institutions and public school teachers and administrators are, technically government employees. A school district is a government unit and entity to the same degree a county or city is a government entity. When a school sets aside time for anything, the school is directly giving support to that activity or practice given the time. They believe that, in our nation, with its precious religious freedom, there is no place for the state, via public schools, to support religion. Separation of church and state means that the state should be neutral towards religion and setting aside school time for official prayer is far from religious neutrality. Furthermore, by setting aside school time for prayer sessions; the school is indirectly supporting particular religious beliefs and practices (Farmer, 1984). I feel that these arguments are not sound, and our American heritage blends church and state rather than separates them. On the other side of the school prayer debate are a large number of parents who wants their children to have prayer in public schools. They argue that separation of church and state is not even in the constitution, and that the suggestion that prayer in public schools is a violation of the First Amendment rests on the assumption that a common prayer is synonymous with the establishment of a state religion (Foster, 1995). They also argue denying prayer in schools will deprive children of their freedom of religion, and prayer is an essential element for the moral development of children. By allowing prayer in public schools, it would allow children to express their religious beliefs and observe their beliefs during the school day. School prayer supporters are assuming that prayer works, and that there is a prayer hearing deity. By allowing prayer in schools it creates a pious atmosphere that helps instill certain values such as humility and discipline in the students. They believe that this helps the school children realize the essence of ethical values and it encourages the students to believe in the value system of the school and helps them follow it. As a society, we need to realize that praying in schools is not against the law. In fact, the Constitution guarantees students the right to pray in public schools; it is a protected form of free speech. A student can pray on the bus, in the halls, in the cafeteria, and anywhere on school grounds. They can pray silently before and after class in the classroom. They are not allowed to pray Christian prayers as an organized part of the school schedule. The irony, though, is that Supreme Court decisions strictly separating prayer and public schools, in part because of their potential for dividing the country politically along religious lines has played an important role in dividing the country along religious lines (Davis, 2009). This issue is dividing us socially and religiously. The defiance is most common in the South. Despite the court’s ruling banning school prayer, most schools are acting as if the court ruling never existed. Schools in North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia still have prayer but only in the form of silent meditation. These violations continue largely because of a legal stalemate. While the Supreme Court rulings seem clear enough, a violation of the constitutional principle of church and state separation is not a criminal act, and the justice Department will not move until some aggrieved party files a civil suit contending that specific school officials are acting unconstitutional (Time, 1967). On this social issue, blacks view on this issue differs significantly from whites. School prayer has been labeled a life style concern issue. Those that are most supportive of school prayer are those who are most threatened by a rapidly changing pluralistic society. This means that most of those that are supportive of school prayer are minorities, and come from rural backgrounds, with less education who are older, religious traditionalist with a low sense of psychological modernity. Most being blacks which are more supportive of school prayer because of their religious backgrounds and they tend to attend church more often and participate in more church related activities than others (Secret, Johnson, & Welch, 1986). A third significant, negative result of the school prayer decisions on our political and social life is the effect on the rise of home schooling. Home schooling, which was very unpopular and unsupported by many, is on the rise because of the Court’s ruling of taking God out of our public schools. The National Center of Education Statistics last survey of homeschooling conducted in 2007, found 1.5 million students being homeschooled in the U.S., a seventy-four percent increase from 1999. Today it is estimated that the number of homeschooled students runs as high as 2.4 million (Davis, 2009). This is happening because many parents feel that by taking prayer out of public schools, children are not being provided moral or religious instruction and by homeschooling, they can give it to them at home. More plainly, it means that every day thousands of public school and homeschooled children of different or no religions lose the opportunity to learn mutual respect and tolerance for each other. It is a great loss for them and for the future of their country.
Without prayer in public schools, the public school system has tragically disintegrated. Banning prayer in public schools has had a tremendous effect on the demise of America. High school drop-out-rates, declining SAT scores, school shootings, increased drug use, homosexuality, alcoholism, teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV transmission are on the rise among school aged children. There has to be a relationship between taking prayer out of public schools and all of the bad things that are happening in our society. When you remove the fear of God from the world, there is no longer a reason for us to continue loving each other, treating others with respect, treat marriage sacred, or to raise God fearing children. With the elimination of prayer in our public schools or God, our children are not learning the moral values or principles needed to succeed in school or life. Denying children the opportunity to pray in school prevents morals from being reinforced, and goes against our history and forefathers and does not follow the utilitarian theory. By not allowing prayer in schools, forces society to follow the non-religious minority, over 70% of American have some sort of religious background (Newport, 2007). According to a new Gallup poll 76% of Americans favor prayer in schools, and that whatever arguments political leaders make about separation of church and state in the public schools, most Americans do not seem to be persuaded. Large majorities continue to favor allowing voluntary prayer in public schools, and believe that religion has too little presence in them (Moore, 2005).
The Constitution’s clause prohibiting prayer in public schools does not require public schools to become adversaries of religion, only to avoid endorsing or teaching prayer in schools. Today, students already have the freedom and the time to engage in silent personal praying. The students’ minds are not always actively engaged in learning each and every minute of the school day. We all have been students and know that there is always time to daydream; meaning that students have plenty unofficial time to exercise a personal silent prayer. When taking exams, many students offer up silent prayers before they begin and even at lunch before they eat. Teachers and students presently have the freedom and time to say silent prayers; school time does not have to be formally set aside. The vast majority of parents feel that the primary place for religion is the home; the school also has a responsibility to the parents, just as they support the school. So, if the parents support prayer at home, shouldn’t the school support the parents with prayer in schools? There are hundreds of different religions in the United States and thousands of different denominations of, and approaches to, those religions. This can make for a great deal of conflict. One of the challenges of a diverse society is to recognize that diversity and find a solution to the conflict it generates (Mosser, 2010). We have in this case a very easy solution and that is to pray to ourselves. Every American family needs to pray a good more at home, and make the true meaning of prayer much more important in the lives of our children. It is up to us! As a result of the Court’s decision on prayer in public schools, American families should have intensified their efforts at home. Religion and prayer is very personal, the voluntary part of praying cannot be taken away from students. There is no solution that will please everyone, we just need to treat everyone with respect and we will have fewer issues like this in the world. In conclusion, I agree with the majority of Americans, voluntary prayer should be allowed in our public schools. The children’s right to free exercise of religion should not be taken from them. The founders of the Constitution recognized the importance of freedom of religion when establishing democracy. They also recognized the importance of freedom between the government and its people; the government is not upholding its part and is forcing its people to believe that prayer in public school is unconstitutional. With the decline of our society and all the moral issues we are faced with today, I think it’s about time to bring prayer back to our public schools.

References
Bartlett, D.F. (1974). Should The Federal Constitution Be Amended To Authorize Prayer In Public Schools? PRO. Congressional Digest, 53(1), 14. Retrieved March 18, 2012 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/delivery.
Davis, M.J. (2009). RELIGION, DEMOCRACY AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Journal Of Law & Religion, 25(1), 33-56.
Farmer, R. (1984). THE SCHOOL PRAYER ISSUE. Education, 104 (3), 248. Retrieved March 25, 2012 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/delivery.
Foster, E. (1995). One nation under God?!. National Minority Politics, 7(1), 16. . Retrieved March 18, 2012 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/delivery.
Kent Greenawalt, Does God Belong in Public Schools? (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005), 17.
Moore, D. (2005, August 26). Gallup News Service. Public Favors Voluntary Prayer for Public Schools. Retrieved March 18, 2012, from http://www.gallup.com/poll/18136/Public-Favors-Public-Schools.aspx?
Mosser, K. (2010). A Concise Introduction to Philosophy, San Diego, Bridgepoint Education, Inc. https://content.ashford.edu
Newport, F. (2007, December 24). Gallup News Service. Question's and Answers About Americans' Religion. Retrieved March 18, 2012, from http://www.gallup.com/poll/103459/Questions-Answers-About-Religion.aspx?
STORY OF THE SCHOOL PRAYER DECISIONS. (1964). Congressional Digest, 43(11), 262. Retrieved March 18, 2012 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/delivery.
Secret, P. E., Johnson, J. B., & Welch, S. (1986). RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN ATTITUDES TOWARD THE SUPREME COURT’S DECISION ON PRAYER IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Retrieved March 25, 2012 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/delivery.
Time, (1967). How Do You Prohibit Prayer?. Time, 90(8), 64. Retrieved March 25, 2012 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/delivery.