ipl-logo

Argumentative Essay: Should Prayer Be Allowed In Public Schools

772 Words4 Pages

Take a Stand in the First Amendment One of the most important parts in the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment, protects our basic liberties. It states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” A controversial issue dealing with the First Amendment has been occurring in schools all over the country. Should prayer be allowed during school? According to the Bill of Rights each person has the right to take part in their religious beliefs whenever they want as long as it is in a civil manner. Taking part in prayers …show more content…

Others may say that school is not made for acknowledging God. They think that only Churches are a place to show your love for God. However, praying builds student’s morality. It is a way to help guide them to make the right decisions. Prayer helps these values that are taught in school. Public schools are not asked to teach about God. It is understood that church is the place to go to learn about him. However, believers should not be confined to only expressing their love of God at home or in church. That is against their rights. Other people argue that praying in such a diverse area will sway students believes or cause them to feel alienated. However, many students are raised to be strong in their faith. In addition, it doesn’t hurt to become educated in other religions as well. It is helpful to know a little about each religion. Your loved ones are always there to answer your questions and help you grow in your faith. Many people believe that prayer should only be done in private and school is by far the place it should take place in. The moment of silence is the perfect time to participate in prayer. No one is praying out loud or swaying others believes, everyone is keeping to him or herself. There is nothing harmful about the moment of

Show More
Related
1682 Words | 7 Pages

an you imagine yourself having to start your daily school routine with a prayer? This became a serious question to be taken up by the Supreme Court of the US, in November of 1951. Following an increase in in juvenile crime (many believe caused by the Korean War). The New York Board of Regents adopted a prayer to be recited in NY public schools (Dierenfield 67). The prayer was established because “...the regents believed that such a program would ensure that school children would acquire ‘respect for lawful authority and obedience to law’ ”

Read More
859 Words | 4 Pages

Engel v. Vitale: Prayer in the Public Schools is a book written by Julia C. Loren. Loren’s main purpose for writing this book is to inform us about the history of the Engel v. Vitale trial, an important trial which determined that prayer was not acceptable in the public schools quote as the book says the “In 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down one of its most controversial decisions of the twentieth century.” In this book, Loren was not bias towards either Engel’s or Vitale’s side of the case as she did not appear to be very fond of one particular side and gave information regarding both sides of the case. With that being said, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in history or even the Engel v. Vitale case itself because the author was very straightforward in telling about both sides of the case without leaving anything out. Engel v. Vitale:

Read More
2001 Words | 9 Pages

Although public school prayers violate the separation of church and state, that doesn’t mean the U.S supreme court can replace freedom of religion with freedom from religion. Most of them argue the gov’t is meant for everyone, it should be neutral while protecting all. Alabama, Montana, north Dakota and Maryland are the only state out of 54 states to allow public prayer and religious groups, club and programs in public schools, but on conditions like students will not be forced to cooperate in prayer, furthermore students are allowed to have a moment of silence (in Virginia) and teaching of the positive-negative side of different religion. There is a possibility someday, someone will sue a Virginia school because of it moment of silence time. The justice system needs to draw a clear line between religion and the people 's

Read More
426 Words | 2 Pages

I don’t agree that the Pledge of Allegiance violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment because you are not praying to anything or anyone. I would agree that the nondenominational prayer does violate this clause. The reason being is that schools are not allowed to require that there is to be a prayer because it comes down to the separation of church and state. Church is where you can go and pray, as well as practice your religion. The state, however, cannot mandate that there be prayer in school because it is not something that they can do because of the First

Read More
457 Words | 2 Pages

This was said becuase the 1st amendment keeps the government from determining when and how people should worship. The authorization of the law introducing a prayer was opposing what the amendment stands for therefore it was unconstitutional. Many early americans have been troubled in the past by religious enforcements and persecution. The Court declared that the Establishment Clause denies the government in having a say in religious exercises. Justice Hugo Black wrote the majority opinnion stating that the freedom of religion means that is not the government 's buisness tocompose official prayers for any group of American citizens.

Read More
435 Words | 2 Pages

As we all know today’s school are a lot different than those in the 1960’s. During the 1960’s is was tradition to open each and every day with a nondenominational prayer, along with the Pledge of Allegiance. Today, prayer is accepted in schools as long as it is led by the student themselves, and not the teacher. In 1962 the case of Engel vs. Vitale went to the Supreme Court based off the idea of whether school sponsored prayer violates the First Amendment Establishment Clause. At this time there was a general law in New York State that required every school within the state to open each day with the Pledge of Allegiance, and a prayer that did not restrict denomination.

Read More
650 Words | 3 Pages

The families believed, even though the students could be individually excused from the recitation, that the difficulty of being granted permission to be excused from the room during the regents’ prayer made the recitation feel extremely obligatory. Furthermore, they said the prayer certainly violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the

Read More
288 Words | 2 Pages

Several of those were claimed to be “forced” prayer, or prayer brought on by the school. Those cases being Wallace v. Jaffree, Lee v. Weisman, and Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe. There have even been cases where people claimed that saying “under God” in the Pledge of Alligiance was a way of unconstitutional religion being established (Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow). According to the 1st Amendment, we are given the right to freedom of religion.

Read More
985 Words | 4 Pages

The first amendment may seem like something that is generally understood among all of those who use it, but this may not be the case. While most citizens of the United States of America would certainly say that they understand and can comprehend what the first amendment means, an underlying lack of knowledge, upon what is presumed to be the most important of all the amendments, can still be discovered. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The specific piece of the first amendment that is particularly important

Read More
151 Words | 1 Pages

Under the Bill of Rights, in the first amendment comes the right of the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of pursuing happiness. These rights are equal for every individual and no one can take away one's rights or freedom. We don't had to fight for these rights. These rights are close to us since we are born. However, there should be some restriction on the right to speech, religion, and press.

Read More
1407 Words | 6 Pages

There are many views and opinions of the state of the United States on this subject. It has long been a puzzling issue that never seems to seize. America should have religious freedom, because it is a constitutional right to Americans. Prayer in school, gay marriage, and governmental control, are among some of the main issues in this topic.

Read More
1694 Words | 7 Pages

Religion. It is a topic discussed throughout all of America as well as the rest of the world on a daily basis. There have been wars over it, political elections decided because of it, and millions of participants throughout the years. It is a part of several monumental pieces of history and carries on into the present day. Religion is what our nation is fundamentally built upon, all the way back to when the pilgrims came over on the Mayflower bringing their puritan based beliefs with them.

Read More
726 Words | 3 Pages

No one can tell us why are you prying here. The first amendment, which tell us that everyone have the freedom of religion. The first amendment lets us pray in any place we want, but we can 't tell others to pray. “In David Swanson 's "Take a Knee for Freedom of Religion" (N/D 2017), he says that NFL players kneeling during the national anthem is a step against racism.” Don 't think that taking a knee in the NFL game is racist because it 's not.

Read More
948 Words | 4 Pages

“Religious liberty might be supposed to mean that everybody is free to discuss religion. In practice, it means that hardly anybody is allowed to mention it.” ― G.K. Chesterton Many occasions in the United States history have shown that religion has caused many controversial questions. These questions have brought the American Justice System to a running halt, leading society to begin to ponder about the importance of freedom of religion, true meanings of the free exercise and establishment clause, and if there should be limitations imposed on the free exercise of one’s religious beliefs.

Read More
1390 Words | 6 Pages

Jurak Una PS190 Argumentative analysis essay In the past few years, there has been much discussion on whether religious teaching should be part of the public school curriculum. Religion is a constant element shaping our political, economic and social lives. It pinpoints the set of beliefs, dogmas and practices defining the relation between human beings and the so called “divinity”. The notion of religion has always been a very important element of the world’s history.

Read More

More about Argumentative Essay: Should Prayer Be Allowed In Public Schools

Related Topics

Open Document