Lines That Keep You

In 1962, a Supreme Court case ruled that official prayer is not allowed in public schools (ADL, 2009).  I believe that prayer should be allowed in public schools, but not forced upon the students by school officials. The first ammendment states that citizens have the right to choose their own religion, so it’s only fair that that right is carried over to students in government funded schools.  Ninety percent of all children in the United States attend public schools, and all of them are different in their religious outlooks. Also, teachers all have different opinions about relgions, which most likely differ from their students and fellow faculty members. Whenever the Supreme Court said that schools can not support a specific relgion or have offical school-led prayer, they did not ever say that students could not pray to themselves or with eachother as long as it’s not during learning time (Americans United). So, if the Supreme Court rules that students can pray in schools, why is this an issue? They clearly state that school officials can’t endorse a specific religion and that prayer should not be forced on a student unwilling to participate, but they never say students cannot pray. I understand that many students who strongly believe in their religion think that schools should be required to pray, and as a Christian I wish that we could do that openly.  However, many students do not follow a relgion or have a relgion that is in the minority, and should not have to endure prayers to beings other than the one they believe in. Prayer is definately important and should not be taken lightly.  I fully support all students to pray as often as they want, but I do take into account that some students don’t pray, and I don’t think that they should have to sit through morning prayers or constantly be bombarded with relgion while they are at a public school, a place they are required to be for seven hours.