Classroom prayer
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“”As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in school.
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Classroom prayer is, as the name would suggest, prayer that takes place in a classroom or school. The nature of the prayer is not specific, but among American conservatives it would tend to be "loud and proud" prayer, with the students being led in prayer by a person in a position of responsibility - such as a teacher, a visiting preacher, or a nominated student. In the realm of public schools this type of classroom prayer is considered unconstitutional, but there is no restriction on students themselves silently praying or forming prayer groups so they can discuss imaginary friends during recess or outside of school hours.
Classroom prayer is a phenomenon that is most common just before an important test, especially among students who spent their "study time" IMing their 300 bffs (this is nowhere near as cool as it may seem) and editing RationalWiki (neither is this, and it doesn't even seem cool).
[edit] God banned from school?
In the United States, there is a trend for religious fundamentalists to claim that God has been banned from public schools[1]. While it is true that in 1963 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in a case brought by Madalyn Murray O'Hair that prayer led by state officials is a violation of the Establishment Clause.[2] Students in public schools are free to pray at any time, whether in the hall, in an empty room, in the cafeteria, or just before playing a sports game. This may be done to a deity, automobile, or pasta dish of their choice. Most schools in the more "modern" parts of the United States will go out of their way to allow a student to leave the classroom if his or her religion requires a moment of prayer. For example, Muslim students are generally allowed to leave the classroom for midday prayers.
Fundamentalists blame the decline of teacher-led prayer to an increase in violent crime, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, natural disasters, and pretty much everything else that has gone wrong in the past forty years. Such conjecture ignores the obvious problem that the more religiously devout conservative states have a nasty habit of leading the way in teen pregnancy and divorce.[3] The claim that "taking God out of school" leads to immorality is a form of moral panic, and suggests that parents are somehow incapable of teaching their children one specific unproved religious view before the children are old enough to think for themselves sharing the word of God with their children without government assistance.
Curiously, enthusiasm for state mandated prayer fades when the religion in question isn't Christianity.[4]
Canada permits Catholic school systems to levy taxes on home owners to fund Catholic education, where prayer is clearly allowed.
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Private religious schools, of course, have the right to pray any time they want, any way they want
- ↑ ENGEL V. VITALE, 370 U. S. 421 (1962)
- ↑ High divorce rates and teen pregnancy are worse in conservative states than liberal states
- ↑ Hindu prayer in Senate draws religious protesters