A very controversial widespread issue today is the right to have prayer in
public schools. The proposed amendment reads: “To secure the people’s right
to acknowledge God according to the dictates of conscience. The people’s
rights to pray and to recognize their belief, heritage or traditions on public
property, shall not be infringed. The government shall not require any person to
join in the prayer or religious activity, initiate or designate school prayers,
discriminate against any religion, or deny equal access to benefit on account of
religion. (AVSP)” This would permit but not mandate school prayer. I think
that the government should be focused on the school’s academics, not what
religion they are to study. The proposed amendments would cause nothing but
trouble considering that there would be many arguments on what beliefs should be
taught. Religion is private and schools are public. Having any prayer in school
goes against the basis in which our country was formed upon. America came into
being because colonists wanted religious freedom. Our founding fathers carefully
wrote the constitution to grant the freedom of separation of church and state. A
prayer created and supported by a government violate the very essence of the
spirit in which the US was formed. (Haas35) Therefore, having a prayer in school
would be unconstitutional. “A radical school prayer amendment would attack the
heart and soul of the bill of rights which safeguards the rights of the
individual from tyranny of the individual.” (Jasper96) Teachers are public
employees, paid by the taxpayers. The time it takes to recite a prayer is an
expenditure of tax dollars. (Haas36 ) This is a violation of the separation of
church and state. This whole issue is a big waste of time because students do
have the right to pray at school. No one can stop them from praying
individually, silently, or personally. this right has never, and could never be
outlawed. (AVSP ) The real motive is to install group prayer.(The Case Against
School Prayer) I feel that the school day is not that long, and that if one
feels obligated to express their beliefs in a group, there is plenty of time
after school. There are so many things that could be argued in this amendment.
If passed it would be a never ending war of religious beliefs. Oppressers to the
amendment view that since education is mandatory, how can public schools impose
one religious prayer on all students? (New American Coalition) If a religion was
brought into the classroom, it would build walls for children who are not aware
of religious differences. (Case Against School Prayer) Public school districts
are made of many different types of people with many different religious
beliefs. Students would not be forced to pray but the minority would feel
singled out.( Jasper 108) Many religious people are against this proposed
amendment. In reality, the only way to make people of different religious
beliefs feel comfortable would be to make the prayers cross cultural. However,
any watered down prayer would result in the deeply religious finding it
meaningless, and an infringement on students who follow no religion. (Democratic
Alliance for Action)) Even religious Christians oppose the amendment. They say
that the bible warns against public prayer. “And when you pray, do not be like
the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the
street corners, but when you pray, go into your room, close the door and
pray...”(Bible) In conclusion, this issue of school prayer could never be
passes. It is unconstitutional and would deny the United States of America its
most cherished characteristic, freedom. There are many ways that this problem
can be solved for those who argue and worry about it. These people can either
send their kids to a private school that will help them to learn their
particular religious belief on an everyday basis, teach their children after
school, or form prayer groups at their own private homes.Bibliography1. The Bible. Matthew 6:5-6. 2. Concentric. (1999). Religious Freedom
Amendment. [World Wide Web] Available:http://www.concentric.net/Dannemyr/rfa.htm.
3. Democratic Alliance for Action. (1997). Bible Believers Should Oppose School
Prayer. [World Wide Web] Available:http://www.daa.org/prayer.html. 4.
Freethought. The Case Against School Prayer. (1999) [World Wide Web]
Available:http://www.freethought.org/org/fff/pray.html. 5. Haas, Carol. Engle v.
Vitale. New York: Enslow; 1994. 6. Jasper, Margeret C. Religion and the Law. New
York: Oceana, 1998. 7. New America Coalition. school Prayer. [World Wide Web]
Available:http://www.newamerica.org/prayer.html.