I think I fall on both sides of the fence here. I think that the main purpose of an Educational environment is for learning and if you advocate prayer in school then you could alienate some children and make them feel isolated because they aren't in the majority religion. On the other hand you have religions that require prayer at certain times of the day and I wouldn't want to discriminate against any religion. Which is why I vote for maybe a moment of silence in the morning and maybe after lunch with no mention of god or a specific kind of religion. The primary focus of a classroom should bring together kids and encourage interaction, not seperate them so this issue is complicated.

In public school, no.

In private school, sure.

I say, let anybody pray if they want to, to whatever they want to pray to. But don't mandate any kind of prayer, and don't officially support any kind of prayer.

I like this answer so long as classrooms aren't disrupted. For instance, I don't want any goat sacrifices going on during PE.

I would be okay with this. I would use that time to remember Kurt Cobain and Andrew Wood. Others could pray...

B-I-N-G-O.

God bless,

Jared

Nothing more need be said.

I'd be fine with that, whether the school was public or not.

the bottom line is that if you believe strongly enough in "your god", you should pray when and where you feel like it regardless of the laws created by your fellow man. after all, isn't "your god" and "your god's laws", higher than those laws that your fellow man has created? i would hope so.

anyway, i agree with the idea of letting people pray when and where they want, and to whom they want. perhaps that's a stance that is easier taken than actually put into practice, however. i fully admit that it could become a big hinderence to the classroom.

The real issue isn't the praying or worshipping so much...it's how to handle a situation when someone wants to sacrifice that goat, praying to Jesus for the WHOLE class OUTLOUD instead of learning while disturbing the other kids, or invoking the Sith Overlord Dark Prince Helgamot of the 5th Chapter of the Witches Coven of Springfield, Missouri during the middle of Geometry.

It's hard to learn about congruent angles when the Sith Overlord Dark Prince Helgamot is spewing blood and brimstone all over your paper, while his hounds of hell antagonize the cheerleaders in the back of the room.





Or...you could keep prayer out of public school.



Honestly, some type of "middle ground" would have to be reached...if we allowed prayer of any sort, at any time, into public schools. You would have to balance the freedom to let someone pray, with the freedom to let people learn without being distracted. I really never had a problem with prayer not being allowed in public school anyway...who cares...if you want to pray...just bow your head and pray. God doesn't care where you pray from, and besides, aren't you ultimately trying to please him, and not some legislative branch of the government, or a school policy?

Just pray, if they kick you out...so be it. A half day of school getting kicked out for prayer is better than any full day at school having to do long division or geometry problems anway.

I would pray that all organized religion goes away.l

"Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s."

Public school belongs to Caesar.

--PunkDavid

Exactly.

Kids can pray if they want to, especially during in-between or off times during the day. Also, you cannot keep someone from praying anymore than you can make someone pray. The very act is personal and can neither be mandated nor prevented.

Make it not official or endorsed and leave it at that.

If you want to pray quietly to yourself all day, knock yourself out.

Should there be a guided prayer at the beginning of the day? Fuck no.

I really give less than a fuck, really.

did I miss something?

Are there groups wanting to bring prayer into public school?

They currently occupy the white house.

i really could care less.

I'm not in school anymore. but i also don't think it's a bad thing. As long as there's no one telling you what to believe in or who to believe in.

fair enough....it should be left up to the school. prayer shouldn't be forced on children but those from other religious groups (i'm thinking immigrants here actually) shouldn't be able to force a country with a judeo-christian heritage from changing its way of life. christian or muslim schools and the like should be able to and if state schools don't want it then no problem. i say bring on the animal sacrifices....

I think they should start teaching History to elementry students before they mandate an "official" religion / prayer in public schools.