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Prayer In Schools

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Recommended: The issue of school prayer

In schools today, the law prohibits any religious material endorsed by a faculty member or a school district. This includes prayer during school assemblies, football games, or other school events. Also, this bans any religious rhetoric during valedictory speeches or student presentations. Although students can still pray privately to themselves during passing times, or read a Bible during school hours, the restrictions on prayer is inhibiting freedom. In fact, “Concerned Women for America (CWA) recognizes that the issue of school prayer has continued to arise because, in too many instances, religious expression has been denied to students” (MacLeod). Courts have even “invalidated moments of silence” because they warrant silent prayer, even though they intend to respect the fallen (Scharffs 295). …show more content…

Court decisions such as these have crossed between enforcing neutrality and imposing on freedom. Neutrality has even affected schools’ curriculum itself. The rulings state: “Schools may not teach creationism, ‘creation science’ or other religiously based concepts in science classes. Schools may not refuse to teach evolutionary theory in order to avoid giving offense to religion” (Americans 3). The restriction on prayer also means forbidding controversial topics involving religion, which limits opportunities for debates and other educational experiences. “If free religious expression in the form of prayer is prohibited, school officials are, at the very least, teaching children that public acknowledgment of God is not as important as the things the schools can discuss” (MacLeod). Eliminating religion from schools not only hampers students’ freedom, but also the richness of their

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