NO PRAYER AT SCHOOL FOOTBALL GAMES The article, “The Supreme Court: The religious Issue; Student prayers must be private, court reaffirms”, was written by Linda Greenhouse (2000). She was a journalist for the New York Times for 40 years, and she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, for her coverage of the US Supreme Court. Mrs. Greenhouse (2000) has expressed her own personal views and is a critic of conservative religious values, but according to Folkenflik (2006), “has never received any complaints of bias, in Greenhouse’s coverage (p.1)”. Greenhouse’s (2000) main argument is that there is no place for prayer at school football games. The US Supreme Court ruled that student led prayers at school football games were unconstitutional, on the basis …show more content…
According to Gordon (2012), “the policy is legal under the 2007 Texas law that allows a limited public forum for public school students (p.1)”. The policy has been reviewed by the districts attorney’s and is within the guidelines of the law. Students lead the time right before the game, they can choose whatever they would like to talk about, even if it is just an introduction to the game. Often times the student leads in prayer. The school officials let the students lead during this time, thus, they did not coerce the students into leading with …show more content…
The main two religions since Americans’ first started settling here, are Catholic and Christian. A majority of Americans in the United States, identify with Christianity. While there are many other religions practiced all over the US such as, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Mormon etc., the US created many of its norms, values and beliefs, according to the Christian religion. According to Marsiglia, and Kulis (2015), “Religion can be an important source of identity and an instrument for positive social change, but at the same time it has been used throughout history to justify social inequities and promote discrimination against individuals and communities (p. 62)”. In an attempt to bring about social equality, prayer is not allowed to be publicized in schools anymore. Students are allowed to pray privately to the religion of their choice, but students will not have religion forced on them in schools. While neither of these article provide concrete solutions, Greenhouse’s (2000) article is a start to social equality where religion is concerned. Not publicly praying at public events, gives individuals the respect to practice whatever religion they want, without having to feel the pressure of being oppressed in public places, such as schools. On the other hand, Gordon’s (2012) article, with allowing student led prayer at school football games, oppresses students and