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Persuasive Essay: School Prayer In Public Schools

441 Words2 Pages

Tara Zarasvand
Professor Larry Steele
English Composition 1113
6 September 2015
School Prayer in Public Schools Whether school prayer should be allowed in public schools or not has been a controversial subject over the past few decades. As of right now school prayer is not enforced in public schools, but rather in religious private schools. However, students are not government officials and occasionally do display their faith throughout public schools. School prayer should not have a place in public schools because it violates the constitution, would not be just, and schools are not a place of prayer. In 1962, during the case of Engel v Vitale, the Supreme Court ruled that starting off school days with a prayer sponsored by school officials was in violation of the Establishment Clause. Justice …show more content…

It would be unfair to students as well as their parents. The majority of the United States’ children attend public schools, where they are surrounded by other students of different religious and philosophical beliefs. With the unbelievable diversity of American society, “it's important that our public schools respect the beliefs of everyone and protect parental rights” (Prayer and the Public Schools). Peer pressure is wide-spread within the country and with the diversity throughout our schools, religious influence from one student among another will not be difficult. Mixing prayer and religion in our public schools may construct barriers between children who have not before been exposed to religious differences. Public schools are not a place of prayer. Schools such as a private Catholic or Christian school do have a place for prayer, however. Schools are public while religion is private. Places for prayer are churches, temples, and mosques, not public school. I believe that school prayer should not have a place in public schools because it violates the Constitution, would be unfair, and schools are not a place of

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