Prayer in Public School

[Jason]

A moment of silence for any faith seems to go with the US constitution. However, focusing on the Christian God does not.  Anyway, some Christians want God in public school cause supposedly school is becoming a moral disaster.  However, despite my Christian beliefs, I don't think school prayer would make much a difference. Instead, parents should raise children, not the school, but I do know many young people have no parents or have bad ones.

Edited November 12, 2023 by Jason

[ZandraJoi]

I am an ex-Christian so I will answer from both sides. While we do have a right to our beliefs, there's also a time & place. I see no harm in prayer in schools, however, some do it for a Look At Me type of deal. "Look At Me, I'm Christian, I am taking a stand against public schools secularism." No, not really. Just like a Christian wouldn't want a non-Christian to "make a mockery" of a belief, same holds true here.

Have a prayer in school. But don't make it out to be about you. Because if you are really praying, isn't it to your god & not to man? So why would it matter if people see it for show or not? If god knows your heart, he would see it even if you pray in your own mind, in silence.

Also have to realize that many founding fathers were actually into Deism.

It's up to the parents, mom & dad, to raise their children. Public places should never take the place of the Home.

[Uncrowned Guard]

In the United States, the principle of separating church and state has been a longstanding topic of discussion, and this extends to public education. The presence of religious references in government, such as the phrase 'in God we trust', can make it challenging to completely exclude religious elements from public institutions.

However, a key focus in public schools should be to foster an environment where students of all religious backgrounds feel welcome and are provided with an equitable educational experience. This includes ensuring that there is no discrimination based on religious beliefs or the lack thereof.

On the other hand, the role of religion in addressing moral and cultural issues is a broader societal matter. While some may argue that a decline in religious observance could impact morality, attributing cultural or moral challenges directly to the presence or absence of religious education in public schools oversimplifies the issue. Public schools are just one part of a larger societal framework, and the solution to such complex problems likely involves multiple facets of society, not solely the education system.

[ZandraJoi]

On 12/7/2023 at 7:02 AM, Uncrowned Guard said:

In the United States, the principle of separating church and state has been a longstanding topic of discussion, and this extends to public education. The presence of religious references in government, such as the phrase 'in God we trust', can make it challenging to completely exclude religious elements from public institutions.

However, a key focus in public schools should be to foster an environment where students of all religious backgrounds feel welcome and are provided with an equitable educational experience. This includes ensuring that there is no discrimination based on religious beliefs or the lack thereof.

On the other hand, the role of religion in addressing moral and cultural issues is a broader societal matter. While some may argue that a decline in religious observance could impact morality, attributing cultural or moral challenges directly to the presence or absence of religious education in public schools oversimplifies the issue. Public schools are just one part of a larger societal framework, and the solution to such complex problems likely involves multiple facets of society, not solely the education system.

In a perfect world, we would honor & accept each other. In a pure perfect world, there wouldn't be room for so many varying degrees of beliefs. People believe what they believe more from where they are from, than what is right & wrong. I'm Dutch so was raised Christian Reformed. If I was born in India, I'd most likely be a Buddhist or Hindu.

Many years ago, the term InterFaith was quite popular. I don't see it as much anymore. It was honoring each religion & people came to learn more; not to judge.

[Uncrowned Guard]

1 hour ago, ZandraJoi said:

In a perfect world, we would honor & accept each other. In a pure perfect world, there wouldn't be room for so many varying degrees of beliefs. People believe what they believe more from where they are from, than what is right & wrong. I'm Dutch so was raised Christian Reformed. If I was born in India, I'd most likely be a Buddhist or Hindu.

Many years ago, the term InterFaith was quite popular. I don't see it as much anymore. It was honoring each religion & people came to learn more; not to judge.

Sadly we are much better at building walls and drawing lines than we are at compromise and accepting the ways of others.

[Jason]

I definitely agree what people on this thread have posted.  In fact, I see a lot of this as Christian chauvinism.    They're angry about prayer or perhaps cause they've taken the word Christ out of Christmas, but have they really tried to reach out to people with the Christian message, the one Jesus actually spoke of?  It reminds me of the whole thing with Chick-fil-a in the US.  Now, I think the biz has a right to follow Christian fundamentalist beliefs, but this thing was exploded out of proportion as a vehicle to self-righteously judge homosexuals.   In fact, a question I wondered was, if they disagree with gays, then why not try to tell them about Jesus, rather than bash them as a political group?

Edited December 9, 2023 by Jason

[Heatman]

On 12/9/2023 at 5:33 PM, Uncrowned Guard said:

Sadly we are much better at building walls and drawing lines than we are at compromise and accepting the ways of others.

This is the reason why we have so much hate for one another all over the world. These walls and drawing lines is what leads to all the war we are seeing all over because one will never like to concede their spot to another. Religion have never been the problem, it's the people who are practicing it that's going at it the wrong way. 

[ZandraJoi]

On 1/28/2024 at 2:43 AM, Heatman said:

This is the reason why we have so much hate for one another all over the world. These walls and drawing lines is what leads to all the war we are seeing all over because one will never like to concede their spot to another. Religion have never been the problem, it's the people who are practicing it that's going at it the wrong way. 

I agree with you! However, we do need walls up as boundaries UNTIL people start acting like Human Beings. Only then can we accept each other.

[Jason]

Being a Christian, I think people should pray.  However, I am cynical about the movement to seemingly impose prayer on people outside a religious school setting.   I mean, as I said before, there's this whole conservative movement that thinks prayer will do a 360 on moral decline in the US (and other countries).

[ZandraJoi]

On 2/8/2024 at 5:26 PM, Jason said:

Being a Christian, I think people should pray.  However, I am cynical about the movement to seemingly impose prayer on people outside a religious school setting.   I mean, as I said before, there's this whole conservative movement that thinks prayer will do a 360 on moral decline in the US (and other countries).

People should pray. If their heart is in it & it's their choice. Being mandatory or your mind being elsewhere is just rote. Don't they realize the god they are praying to will know the difference between a pure heart & one doing just because it's the "in" thing?

[Jason]

16 minutes ago, ZandraJoi said:

People should pray. If their heart is in it & it's their choice. Being mandatory or your mind being elsewhere is just rote. Don't they realize the god they are praying to will know the difference between a pure heart & one doing just because it's the "in" thing?

This is all a culture war thing. It's a way of telling off a liberal culture. Of course, that's not the only reason.

Edited February 10 by Jason