School Prayer Essay, Research Paper

School Prayer By Danielle Clark Block 1 Speech 105 I. Intro- Contrary to the claims, pupils have the Constitutional right to pray in school, either separately or in informal groups so long as the supplication is non organized by the school. But if the pupils merely knew what they were truly making by praying in school. II. First of all they are traveling against the Bible. As to cite, Matthew 6:5-6: “ And when you pray, do non be like the dissemblers, for they love to pray standing in the temples and on the street corners. But when you pray, go into your room, shut the door and pray & # 8230 ; ” So as you can see those who pray in topographic points such as the cafeteria, center of the hall or things of that nature is really traveling against the bible. Now I am non stating that a individual should non pray in schools, but they should make it merely as the Bible says in a personal topographic point. If a pupil can & # 8217 ; t happen a personal topographic point, and have an unwanted demand to pray, they need to non do a large trade out of it. Praying as put in the Bible is a personal experience between that individual and God. Not an event to be proclaimed up and down the hallway. III. Another job there is with praying in schools is the fact that there are some pupils who don & # 8217 ; t believe in God. The intent of a democracy is to hold the bulk decide but yet ever respect the rights of the minority. Some decision makers, instructors, parents, and most significantly, childs, merely experience uncomfortable when it comes to religion. Several factors could be attributed to this job, from excessively many faiths and spiritual theories to spiritual force per unit area to miss thereof. But whatever the ground some people feel offended by seeing these pupils pray. They think that their rights are being infringed upon. Well in illustration, if a shirt some pupil is have oning offends a individual they tell person about being offended. Person else is besides offended and so they tell person. These 2 people influenced by what they have heard state more people. This concatenation reaction continues until that sort of shirt is non allowed in schools, in illustration Marilynn Manson shirts. The minority there is the pupils desiring to have on the shirts ; the bulk is the people offended by it. The bulk radius and the minority is told to fallow. But now it is

the minority being offended no one cares to do anything about it. IV. The last problem I have are the advocates of school prayer say that without it there is moral decline, blaming the absence of school prayer for everything from low SAT scores to teenage pregnancy. But it just won’t work. In fact, legislated school prayer would make things worse. For a school to require students to recite, for example, a Christian prayer would give Christianity a special status, implying that other religions are somehow inferior. One religion would be pitted against another, conflicts would arise, and intolerance would grow. The only palatable compromise in a directed public school prayer would be a watered-down prayer that would be meaningless to the deeply religious and an infringement on those who follow no religion. Some of our senators are trying to pass an amendment in have school prayer required. But the First Amendment begins “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” If we were to have this school wide required prayer we would be in essance establishing a religion. And even though what they are trying to pass is a constitutional amendment it goes against on of the main things our forefathers came here for. The First Amendment is one of the finest laws man has ever written. For over two hundred years, it continues to mean exactly what it was originally intended to mean: Religion and other fundamental rights should remain beyond the reach of majorities and governments, and certainly not subjected to the political whims of Congress. Biblyography “FAQ.” Prayer in Schools. http://www.atheists.org/schoolhouse/faqs.prayer.html. Downloaded December 16, 1999 “Maryland teen walks out of Graduation over Prayer.” Prayer in schools. http://www.freedomforum.org/religion/1999/5/28mdgradprayer.asp Downloaded December 16, 1999 “Smudge Report.” Bible verse. http://www.smudgereport.com/longstories/prayer.html Downloaded December 16, 1999 “Bible Belivers should oppose school prayer.” School Prayer. http://users.cnmnetwork.com/lotl2k/prayer.html Downloaded December 16, 1999 “The Bible and Public Prayer.” Public Prayer. http://www.religioustolerance.org/prayer.htm. Downloaded December 16, 1999