Amen

Does prayer play an important role in our lives today? The minority wou
ld say no
and that prayer shouldn't ever have played an important role in our society. Bu
t, the
simple fact of the matter is that for hundreds of years, prayer in school has be
en
encouraged by both society and government. In recent years, it has been establi
shed that
prayer in schools has led to a steady moral decline. Morals must be taught, in
school and
at home, and they cannot be properly taught without religion as a much needed st
epping
stone.
Our government was based upon religious beliefs from the very beginning.
The
Declaration of Independence says: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, tha
t all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by God with certain unalienable rights.
. ."
Certainly, it talks about God, creations, God-given moral rights, the providence
of God,
and the final Day of Judgment-all of which are religious teachings. And school
prayer
has been an important part of our religious experience from the very beginning.
Our very First Amendment didn't separate God and government but actually
encouraged religion. It reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting the esta
blishment
of religion, nor prohibit the free exercise thereof," (Encarta 96). The first
part simply
says that the federal government cannot establish one religion for all of the pe
ople. The
simple idea of everyone in our nation being limited to one form of religion is
inconceivable. The second section insists that the government should do nothing
to
discourage religion. But forbidding prayer in schools discourages religion, doe
sn't it?
Early congressional actions encouraged religion in public schools. For
example,
the Northwest Treaty (1787 and 1789) declared: "Religion, morality, and knowled
ge
being necessary for good government and the happiness of mankind, schools, and t
he
means of learning shall forever be encouraged" (Encarta 96). By seeing this, r
eligion,
which includes prayer, was deemed to be necessary. Congress has prayed at the o
pening
of every session since the very beginning. By acknowledging these facts we ask
the
simple question, " If the government can pray in their sessions, why can't the g
overned
pray in their (school) sessions?
Public schools had prayer for nearly 200 years before the Supreme Court
ruled
that state-mandated class prayers were unconstitutional in Engel vs. Vitale in 1
962
(Buckley 70). How could this trail have such a huge impact on our nation and ul
timately
alter how we perceive our constitution? The fact that prayer was practiced for
nearly 200
years alone establishes it by example as a valid and very important practice in
our school
system. And with the emergence of private schools becoming more visible and qui
te
popular, does the situation change due to the up-and-coming number of private sc
hools in
our communities today?
Seeing that privately owned schools obviously have the right to teach ce
rtain
beliefs and have certain rules to abide by without questioning other authorities
, why
shouldn't public schools be allowed the same amount of leeway? These private sc
hools
are exactly what they say, private, therefore picking and choosing students base
d upon
income and beliefs. Private schools do not have to accept an atheist or Christia
n, yet they
select the type of child that will fit in to their school more adequately. Seein
g as how
private schools are funded privately, on the other hand, public schools are fund
ed by the
government through taxes. This would lead us to believe that the government wou
ld be
different from the state right? Right, in many ways, the church and state still
coincide
with one another and many people recognize this and do not like it, thus causing
the
controversy of prayer in school. Why do we not just simplify the matter and imp
ose a
"voluntary" prayer amendment to make everyone happy. This amendment would allow
children who want to pray to be able to pray and those who do not want to pray w
ould
not be forced into doing so, wouldn't this be a great idea?
There are several reasons why "voluntary" prayer amendment would be abl
e to
establish itself as a lasting law in our nation. The first would be because it
would enforce
the First Amendment's guarantee against government established religion. If a
"voluntary" prayer amendment was passed then school prayer supporters would
eventually attempt to apply this rule by encouraging organized, daily classroom
displays
of religion and ultimately prayer in schools. By making this into a law it woul
d simply
be an act to help solidify our forefather's constitution that has successfully l
ed us where
we are today with simply, precise guidelines.
America is called the land of the free and home to millions of people.
These
people have many different cultures and traditions that help to make our country
the great
nati