The Pledge of Allegiance. Odd, isn’t it, the idea of swearing lifelong loyalty to a piece of cloth every day. Yet the vast majority of those students who are reciting the same old phrases for the nine-hundred-somethingith time are oblivious to the fact that they are making what was designed to be a binding and meaningful oath of patriotic renewal.
I started thinking about The Pledge when our Great Liberal President told Newt Gingrich and America that he would be willing to support a Constitutional Amendment to allow School Prayer. Now, I always thought of the concept as kind of funny–the idea of a school engaged in prayer left me with the terrifyingly vivid image of this large brick building bent penitently at the knees. After all, who is praying–the individuals inside the school or the “school” itself?
This, I admit, is a silly idea–almost, dare I say it, an irreverent one. But it points to one of the many problems that School Prayer creates–How do you compel someone to pray? Even neglecting Constitutional issues, the concept of involuntary organized prayer is an ethical nightmare (for those of us worried about these things). T…
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This is the danger School Prayer will inevitably run. With the routine institutionalization of School Prayer, will prayer itself begin to lose whatever meaning it has left for America’s youth? Will the act of calling upon the divine become as meaningless to a generation as flossing is to ours? Will there even be resentment, as there is towards the flag, because saluting is compulsory? By taking away the option in how to pray, and the option to pray, the meaning of prayer will be lost and its exercise will become valueless. By attempting to force prayer down the throats of our youth, we will be debasing the spirituality of the entire nation. After all, if prayer does not come from the heart, it is meaningless.
It is my firm belief that this nation needs all the sincere prayer it can get. That is why, above all else, I oppose School Prayer.
Persuasive Essay: Religion and School Prayer in Public School
Prayer in School: Good or Bad?
As secular humanists and groups like the Christian Coalition are at war with each other regarding prayer in high schools behind closed doors in Washington DC, the average high school kid is the one that gets caught in the middle.
For years now there has been a heated debate about whether or not prayer should be allowed in school,. Everytime the argument is rekindled, it ends in a stalemate, and is a topic that campaigning politicians tend to stay away from.
In the beginning, the argument was whether or not the school day should be started with a prayer over the PA system of school. This didn’t last long, as anyone can see that there is so much diversity between the religious beliefs of high school kids today. The argument then moved on to replace “prayer” with moment of silence.”
Those in favor of prayer in school pose several arguments. They say it will increase tolerance in schools, as children learn of different religions and how they practice. Many feel it will bring to surface the personal questions kids have about god and religion and allow them to search for their own belief system. The most common however is the argument that bringing prayer back to schools will help reverse the moral degragation of this country. As the Reverend Jeffery L. Osgood, pastor of the First southern Baptist Church in Dover wrote, “Back in 1962, when prayer was removed by the Supreme Court, something happened to America’s soul and America’s schools. Our nation became increasingly secular and less tolerant of moral standards and values. Since America became to proud to pray to the God of Heaven who created us, we have been reaping the rewards. Crime is way up. The family has broken up. The test scores of students have taken a submarine dive. Its time for a change!”
On the other hand, Secular Humanists, have several arguments focusing on why prayer in schools is a bad idea. They state that public schools exist to educate, not to proselytize. Children in public schools are a captive audience. Making prayer an official part of the school day is coercive and invasive. What 5,8 or 10-year-old could view prayers recited as part of class routine as “voluntary,”? Religion is private, and schools are public, so the only appropriate situation is that these two do not mix.