PRAYER AND THE 1

Prayer and the School Setting
PHI 200
Instructor Lisa Linkin
May 11, 2012

Prayer and the School Setting Many students throughout the world carry on their daily tasks of going to school. They come home or to their dorms from the excessive day of learning and they may say a prayer or they may not. For the ones that do say a prayer, they may feel as if the prayer would have been better said during school at the time of a “stressful situation or test”. This was not the case because prayer is being banned from school. This topic has been a very hot one from the time of the first person speaking out against having prayer in the school setting even until now showing no signs of letting up. Why is it so bothersome? It stands to reason that the reason prayer in the school setting is such a rampant subject is because those on both sides of the situation have very strong and valid arguments. Every time there seems to be a sound solution, there is something else that challenges the peace the solution seemingly creates. When it comes to the issue of prayer being appropriate for the school setting there are those that say that it is not appropriate, those that agree that it is, and those willing to look for solutions to pacify both sides. To even come close to beginning to identify whether prayer is appropriate for school or not one must understand exactly what both these terms mean in a general sense. School is defined as “place of instruction…discussion” (Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary). This same dictionary defines praying as “to ask earnestly, entreat,…pray to a god or a saint” (Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary). Instead of being down right technical about the definitions and the arguments presented by combining both terms to commit the act of praying at school, I rather emphasize the fact that once seen in a different light the argument should not even hold a candle to more important ethical issues present today. School is not the only place of instruction. As a mater of fact, the first place of instruction that we come in contact with is our home and then our environment. Our parents are our very first instructors and we being born to them should follow their instructions until we are old enough and mature enough to leave their home and start instructing our own children. The environment that we are raised in by our first instructors also weigh into what and how we learn. The job of our teachers in the school setting, our secondary “place of instruction”, is to continue in reinforcing what our parents have taught and introduce us to secular learning subjects that we may not have learned about at home. As far as praying goes, even atheists pray. According to the definition of pray, which is ask earnestly, when a person (even one that does not believe in a god) says “may I have some of that, please?”, they are praying. However, to be fair we will look in depth at both sides of the argument about praying at school. According to The Washington Post, a sixteen year old named Jessica Ahlquist received threats for opposing prayer in school when she saw a plaque with the prayer that another child had written on display. She stopped believing in God when she was 10 because of her mother falling ill and not pulling through. Does this make it fair to punish those who still have faith and those who still believe in the One they serve? To those with stories similar to Jessica’s or even those who were taught differently and not to believe it would seem to be. This then poses a problem to everyone else that is taught or feels it necessary to worship and express their love for their God whenever they please. The argument that there should be no prayer in school is a very supported argument. Those that are for this argument don’t necessarily mean to offend those who serve God or their God, but they just want to establish some respect for their perspective of the argument. This is quite understandable as we have come to realize that no one person’s voice is any less or more important than the next person, no matter what they tend to believe. Also taking into account that those who oppose prayer in school might be just as offended as those that are for it. This is the actual basis of the problem concerning prayer in school. “The whole point of keeping prayer out of schools is to protect religion. All religions. And to protect minorities who believe in other religions or none at all” (Quinn, 2012). This is one many proposed arguments suggested by those who feel it is okay to oppose prayer being in the school setting. The argument yields to the though pattern of one removing all traces of anything that deals with religion or the study and practice thereof. While this seems to be a valid solution, there is another factor to weigh into the equation and that would be the party that feels it is acceptable to pray in school. It is known that Christianity is the religion of the majority embedded in the school systems and this is offensive to many because of the fact that they may not believe in the God of Christians or any God at all. Why should the Christian God get all the attention and decisive outlooks regarding religion in school? “School prayer violates the “separation of church and state.”(Pros and Cons). This statement makes much sense. That is, until it is inspected critically and completely. If you examine closely the separation of church and state poses and problem for those who are taught differently in their primary place of instruction, which is home, and their secondary place of instruction -school. If a parent wills that the values and lessons they instill in their children at home be continued even unto the school setting, then church and state can not be separated but must very well be used to complement one the other. Another argument states that “Prayer is school is already legal. Students are already allowed to pray on a voluntary basis (in a non-disruptive way) so formal school prayer is unnecessary.”(Pros and Cons). This statement is also very agreeable. However, there may be an incident in which students want to pull together and pray for a fellow student or event. In this case, the former statement does not cover them having the right to do so and then there would be another problem or challenge presented to fault those who abide by said mentality or that way of thinking. “School prayer may lead to intolerance. Public prayer will highlight religious differences of which students may have been unaware. Those students who abstain from school prayer may be ostracized.”(Pros and Cons). It would hardly seem argumentative, the statement that students who abstain from school prayer may be ostracized. The major point is for those who oppose school prayer feeling like they may be pointed out or misjudged, they are pointing out and misjudging those that respect the acceptance of praying in/at school. Those of the opposing side may very well feel the same way making the argument valid, but valid from all sides. There are many arguments supporting the removal and banning of prayer from the school and school related systems. There are, however, many more arguments that support keeping prayer in the school systems as a positive means of the reinforcement of the values that may be taught to children in their primary place of instruction. Prayer has been apart of the learning institution since its beginning and the desire to ban it now may possibly go through as law, but then how long will it be before someone finds enough backing to overturn that ruling? There are many questions that will probably not answered any time soon concerning the matter but the arguments for keeping prayer in school are just as strong as the ones that suggest banishment. We already addressed the fact that “School prayer would address the needs of the whole person. Schools must do more than train children’s minds academically. They must also nurture their souls and reinforce the values taught at home and in the community.”(Pros and Cons). The reason this is the top argument for this defense is because parents take very seriously the knowledge and training they teach to their children. A parent is responsible for their child(ren) and most believe that God has given them their child(ren) to raise in the right -religious- way.
They then send them to school confident in the fact that what they teach their child(ren) is being nurtured and encouraged, rather than suppressed and shunned because it clashes with what another child has been taught. Then there is always the favor of the legal perspective. “The First Amendment does not separate God and government but actually encourages religion. It reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof." ”(10 Reasons). By banishing prayer from school, congress is prohibiting the free practicing of personal religion, even if it is just for the sake of those who do not have one. Being that the constitution and many laws were founded on the principles of religion, it is hard to see and understand why what was fought so hard for diminish and be done away with. It is no secret that crimes and malicious acts increased when prayer began to be taken out of school. “Since the court outlawed prayer, the nation has been in steady moral decline. Former Secretary of Education William Bennett revealed in his cultural indexes that between 1960 and 1990 there was a steady moral decline. During this period divorce double, 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%. There is a strong correlation between the expulsion of prayer from our schools and the decline in morality”(10 Reasons). Since both prayer and school deal with some more specific qualities of philosophy, why should they be separated when both are needed in combination? This could very well be confusing to a child just entering the school system, they also may question why their parents teach them one thing and their learning institution reinforces another. If they feel they will be punished or shunned at school they may opt to take the learning institution’s perspective into consideration instead. This poses a problem as well, because they may get into trouble or cause trouble at home, if their parent or parents feel disrespected by the lack of observation of what has already been taught. My take on this situation is the major and main pacification of both sides of the argument. I agree that prayer should be maintained in school. I strongly defend this argument and actually lie in favor of it. I, however, also believe that those who choose not to pray should have the option not to do so and allow their decision to be honored. Neither decision or preference interferes with the other’s beliefs or lack thereof. I do not believe that the allowance of those who feel the need to pray damages or hurts those who oppose prayer in general. If you do not want to pray, do not pray. It is a very simple concept. On the other hand, disallowing prayer restricts the other side of the opposition in such a way as to affect those who exercise prayer and cause no riffle in change to those who do not, which is in no way fair. When just not praying is so easy for those who do not agree with the practice affects no one in a negative way. I agree that “Forbidding prayer and other religious expressions in public schools establishes, in effect, the religion of secularism. The Supreme Court has affirmed that there are religions, such as "secular humanism", which do not believe in God”(10 Reasons). It does not make sense to banish prayer and all things associated with religion and then opt to keep the science curriculum going strong. One of the most simple facts is that science is a religion. Most science classes are taught in such a way as to discredit the Creator or one’s God. This is unfair to the training a child has received and also to the parents. If you put into a child the fact that prayer is not allowed in school because it is offensive to someone who does not even belief in a God long enough and add to that the conditioning of the Big Bang Theory and the Theory of Evolution, you must know that this will either turn the child from what they were taught or confuse them into being completely agnostic. That is not fair to any person involved in the equation. “Morals must be taught, and they cannot properly be taught without religion. There cannot be a moral law without a moral Law Giver. And there is no motivation for keeping the moral law unless there is a moral Law Giver who can enforce it by rewards and punishments.”(10 Reasons).
This is again reiterating the fact that a person’s God should prove supreme to them. Those who do not believe in the power of prayer state that it is offensive to them to see or hear a prayer, but do not take into consideration for some people and for the respect of their religion, it is offensive not to see or hear a prayer. Removing prayer from school takes God’s ranking of number one from a child and places it in the background to few people’s uneasiness and that makes all involved uneasy. To put it another way, “The removal of prayer from our schools was a violation of the third commandment which commands us “not to take the name of the Lord in vain.” “(Bergel, 1988). The word vain does not only mean to use something in an inappropriate way, it also means not to use the word at all, causing one to bring the meaning of the word to nothing. In order for a word to exercise its full meaning it has to be used and spoken freely and when needed. This is not to say that a student should have a séance or an all out hallelujah fest right in the middle of class, but if the child decided that it was the time for prayer, he/she should be allowed to pray at that moment. “Worse than taking the Lord’s sacred name in vain is treating it with contempt, denying it rightful place and stripping it from public use and even from the lips of children”(Bergel, 1988). This goes for those who believe respectively in their Creator, no matter what name they call Him by. This is why I feel the argument and suggestion to keep prayer in school is the superior argument. People had more respect for each other when they knew they feared someone or something of a higher caliber than a human being. Not noticing this great reverence and fear, children began seeing themselves in a superior position in other children’s eyes, realizing they can wreak havoc and cause such damaging problems excites and encourages a person to continue with the malicious and egregious acts that hurt so many. This could include school bombings, school shootings, the increase in bullying, the increase in school related drug abuse, and violence as a whole. All in all, prayer and the school setting will continue to be a very touchy and tense subject until there is a final solution. A solution hardly seems probable to anything much less the war on praying at school because of the challenges that present themselves to any major or minor situation. There will be those with strong reasons who are against it, those who are both legally and morally justified who are for it, and then the majority of those who want to pacify both sides. If we all adopt the attitude of relativism and also the respect of each the other person’s preferences and life values then there would not be much of a problem with something as simple as the desire to pray in school. Until then the issue will continue to be pressed and debated until the conclusion and finality of it has come to a head and resolved.

References
10 Reasons for School Prayer. Restore Christian America. Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://www.restore-christian-america.org/reasons.html
Bergel, G. (1988, May 1). Banning Prayer in Public Schools has led to America's Demise. The Forerunner. Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0098_Ban_on_school_prayer.html
Harper, D. Definition of School. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=school
Harper, D. Definition of Pray. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pray
Pros and Cons of Prayer in School. All About History. Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://www.allabouthistory.org/pros-and-cons-of-prayer-in-school-faq.htm
Quinn, S. (2012, February 1). Atheist student faces town’s wrath over Religious protest. The Washington Post. Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/under-god/post/atheist-student-faces-towns-wrath-