To Pray or Not to Pray…That is the Question upon Society.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Judia

Paul Ray Judia Jr.

Engw. 1302

To Pray or Not to Pray…That is the Question upon Society

Growing up attending private Catholic school my whole life I never had been confronted with the controversy of prayer in school. Not until Santa Fe School District v. Doe did I ever even think there was a conflict concerning prayer in school. I attended Santa Fe football games because I lived only fifteen minutes away and had friends that went to Santa Fe. To see a girl from band go up to the press box and say a prayer was not uncommon to me. We always either had a priest or clergy member begin our games with a prayer, even when we played non-Catholic schools. To hear on the news that the Supreme Court had ruled against prayer at games struck me as strange. Nobody at the game was complaining or screaming for her to stop. I had to actually sit back, analyze, and wonder. Was this the same government who prints, “In God we trust” on every currency and bank note? As the news of the ruling began to reach more and more of the public, a line was drawn. People were either for or against prayer in school. Where you stood on the subject decided your place in the community. Not since segregation had the little town of Santa Fe been so divided. The nation has become divided on this issue. Prayer in school seems to be an argument that one can find just about anywhere. The controversial subject of school prayer has divided society, as a whole, on whether or not there is a place in schools for God.

With our nation in a state of shock from previous classroom shootings, the lack of prayer in school has been pointed to as evidence and cause of this violence and the breakdown of society (Baik 1). Due to September 11th, the support for school prayer rebounded to being seen as necessary. When Reverend Jesse Jackson, after September 11, instructed the students and faculty at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, V.A. he instructed “Everyone stand up, hold hands with your neighbor and repeat after me” (Morse 1). Did September 11th allow “God” back into schools? Before that date the question of prayer in school had but one answer: no. Jodie Morse stated in “Letting God Back In” “seeking to reassure students by any means necessary, schools across the country are turning more openly to God” (Morse 1). It has been thought that in our day and time, society needs to have a godly figure to look to for hope when the world around them is being destroyed. Some argue that allowing God back into public schools would allow children to have this hope. They believe that the hope would allow us to live in a more unified nation and society causing the violence to decrease. William J. Murray stated, “If we abandon our religious heritage what will be the bond that holds our nation together? The common thread that binds us as a people is the belief that we are indeed one nation under God. Belief in God is the safety net of our democracy, without which we will surely perish” (Murray 202). Murray’s belief that without God we will perish is one that many in today’s society state as the main reason why prayer should be in school.

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People argue that the democratic society that we live in today supports a child’s right to pray in school. They believe the Constitution gives students the right to free speech in the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment. They believe that prayer is a student’s constitutional right as an American citizen. Justice William J. Brennan stated that “All ideas having even the slightest redeeming social importance-unorthodox ideas, controversial ideas, even ideas hateful to the prevailing climate of opinion-have the full protection of the [First Amendment]” (Whitehead 89). Supporters argue that to take these rights away from students constitutes discrimination against religious exercise. They believe that when a child enters a school the child does not loose his/her constitutional rights. “These proponents assert that, rather than endorsing religion, accommodation of religious activity in the public sector furthers the highest ideals of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and avoids discrimination against religion in the public sector” (Smith 440-1). These people believe that as long as society keeps in mind the first amendment, prayer will be allowed into school.

The opposition believes that to allow prayer into schools would in fact infringe on children’s constitutional rights to freedom of religion. They ask, if school prayer were legal, exactly what type prayer it would be. Would you pray a Christian prayer since the majority of Americans have Christian beliefs? They point out that the religious freedom rights of a Hindu child would be infringed on if only Christian prayers were prayed. The only way to allow prayer into school, they believe, would be to pray in every known religion. Since this act is impossible, people against prayer in school have gained support. They fight that the constitutional rights of freedom of speech does not apply at school since they could infringe on other’s rights. The Supreme Court supported this idea in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District with the phrase, “Students [do not] shed their constitutional rights…. at the schoolhouse gate” (Baik 1). When Michael Chandler, a vice principal, and his son challenged the state of Alabama’s standing on student-initiated voluntary prayer being acceptable, they stated that it “gave the impression of state endorsement. Second they argue that all public religious speech in schools in unconstitutional because of its coercive nature and resulting peer pressure on some of the school’s student.” (Baik 2) Anti supporters of prayer in school, believe that the Supreme Court was talking about the first amendment right to free speech and not freedom of religion. They feel that since religion is a person’s personal belief and does not infringe on other’s rights, that it takes superiority of freedom of speech, a right that can infringe on others right of freedom of religion.

Another argument against prayer in school is that the moment of silence serves no purpose. With Virginia being the most recent state to establish rules in support of a moment of silence, the question of what a child should do during the moment has been called into play. When Hunter Hallman, a third grader and student at South Anna Elementary, told her mother “what we’re we suppose to think about… the man who wrote the song,” (Irwin 1) her mother was confused. Then she realized that since the moment of silence came after the Pledge of Allegiance her daughter was talking about Francis Scott Key, the man who wrote the “Star Spangled Banner,” a reasonable response from a grade school student. However, when Jeremy Davis, a high school student, was confronted with what he prays about during the moment of silence he said, “I organize my day” (Irwin 1). With this same response of not praying during the moment of silence one has to ask, what good does it do?

The argument of whether God should be allowed in school is one that will be with us forever. People have put forth a compromise before of a universal prayer that does not point to one God in particular. Some believe that this prayer would have to not say the word “God” in it. The prayer should be plain and simple, only pray for things like health, prosperity, and hope. These things are universal to all of us. Deep inside every human being is a soul, and that soul is constantly praying for a better world. One can only wonder what the founding fathers would think about today’s society fighting over prayer in school. Would they agree with no prayer in school, believing that it would infringe on others, or would they believe that the lack of church in school is not what they had in mind when they wrote separation of church and state? The argument of prayer in school shows how different a society we are from even our parents. Whether or not this change of society is for the best, will not be seen for many generations. This is an argument that needs to be settled soon. It is an argument that has been proven that cannot be answered in a courtroom. It will surely be answered by society. Not since civil rights has an argument divided our nation so clearly. It is time for people to decide whether there is room in school between spelling and math for God.

Works Cited

Baik, Howard M. “Chandler v. James: A Student’s Right of Prayer in Public Schools.” BYU Journal of Public Law 15 (2001): 243-262. Academic Search Premier. Info Trac. Scarborough-Phillips Lib. Austin. 3 Nov. 2002 <http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/seu_main>.

Finkelman, Paul, ed. Religion and American Law. New York: Garland, 2000.

Irwin, Victoria. “Prayer (and Giggles) during ‘Silent Moment.’” Christian Science Monitor 93 (2000): Academic Search Premier. Scarborough-Phillips Lib., Austin. 3 Nov. 2002 <>.

Morse, Jodie, et al. “Letting God Back In.” Time 158 (2001): 71. Academic Search Premier. Info Trac. Scarborough-Phillips Lib., Austin. 3 Nov. 2002 <>.

Murray, William J. Let Us Pray. New York: William Morrow and Company Inc., 1995

Smith, Rodney K. “School Prayer.” In Finkelman. 440-446.

Whitehead, John W. The Rights of Religious Persons in Public Education. Wheaton Illinois: Crossway Books, 1994.