power point for edu2201

1. Prayer in Public Schools

2. What is school prayer?
 School prayer in its common usage refers to state-sanctioned and/or
mandatory prayer by students in public schools.

3. First Amendment
 In the United States, public schools are banned from conducting religious
observances such as prayer. The legal basis for this prohibition is the First
Amendment to the United States Constitution.
 The first part of the above amendment which reads "Congress shall make
no law respecting an establishment of religion" is known as the
Establishment Clause, while the second part ("or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof") is known as the Free Exercise Clause of the First
Amendment.

4. Arguments
 Some arguments have held that religion in schools is both an effective
sociomoral tool as well as a valuable means to psychological stability. On
the opposing side, others have argued that prayer has no place in a
classroom where impressionable students are continually subject to
influence by the majority. The latter kind of claim holds that, to the extent
that a public school itself promotes the majority religion, the state is guilty
of coercive interference in the lives of the individual.

5. Section 215 – The Amendment that
Congress let die
 "Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to prohibit individual or
group prayer in public schools or other public institutions. No person shall
be required by the United States or by any State to participate in prayer.
Neither the United States nor any State shall compose the words of any
prayer to be said in public schools."
 If adopted the amendment would allow public officials, including
teachers, to dictate how, when and where school children and others
should pray, thus undermining one of the core values of the First
Amendment: the complete freedom of religious conscience through the
nonestablishment of religion. The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly said
that officially organized prayer is coercive in a school environment, even
when designated as "voluntary."

6. Reasonable Middle Ground
 Despite ongoing debate, there are some instances where religious
freedom and secular stability have been temporarily balanced. In the
United States, some administrations have introduced a "moment of
silence" or "moment of reflection" in which a student may, if he or she
wishes to, offer a silent prayer.

7. I Wonder….
The absence of prayer could or could not have added to other social
problems such as: unruly children, elevation in crimes, elevation in drug
usage and teen pregnancy.
Could the absence of prayer and the use of the word “God” have anything
to do with the vast difference in the attitudes of children over the decades?

8. Sources
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_prayer
 https://www.aclu.org/constitutional-amendment-school-prayer