1. What are the religion’s major Fundamental beliefs (briefly give at least three); what are the principal sources of authority or basis for the religion or sect (such as scriptures, teachers, , and the like). 2. What are three major religious festivals or sacred days of the religion. *3. Describe iconography, art, symbols, images, cultic objects, calligraphy visible in the place of worship (or that you can observe in the videos) 4. Distinctive dress, articles of clothing, of members and/or clergy of the religion you witnessed during visit or visible in the videos. *5. Ritual(s) followed, particular/distinctive practices or gestures that you saw practiced during your visit or apparent in the videos. (You should read the Livingston chapter on “Ritual’ before you do the site visit.) *6. Describe how what you saw and heard impacted you; did visit enhance your appreciation for that particular religious faith and/or for religion in general; did you feel you were "worshipping"?; did anything strike you in a negative way?; what was the most positive result of your virtual visit? Topic 4: Social Injustice and Cultural Identifiers Research Rough Draft Feedback Review your peers’ rough drafts on their chosen controversial topics. Provide feedback for each person on their draft, utilizing the expectations of the writing prompt when offering your commentary. Share this document with your peers’ in the peer review forum by the deadline. Three areas of the draft that were successful (offer more than just feedback on grammar, spelling, or punctuation; provide feedback on the quality of the writing and the degree to which the writing prompts are addressed). 1. 2. 3. Three areas of the draft that need improvement (offer more than just feedback on grammar, spelling, or punctuation; provide feedback on the quality of the writing and the degree to which the writing prompts are addressed). 1. 2. 3. © 2020. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved. image1.png 2 Desiree Muniz Grand Canyon University EDU-330 Cindy Segotta-Jones 10/2/2022Prayer in School: Religion as A Cultural Identifier Prayer in schools is a controversial topic in K-12 education due to the polarizing nature of the debate for and against. The reasons that prayer is controversial is because of religious rights and the use of time in schools. Human rights and religious freedom has been a part of the conversation since schools first opened in the United States. America was founded on religious freedom and to get away from what our forefather’s thought were tyrannical practices by the King of England. It had something more to do with the pursuit of happiness. No one wanted others telling them what to believe and how to practice their religion in home nor school. If prayer were included as part of school, there could be a fear of others telling the public’s children what faith to practice. Time is also an important comm ...

1. 1. What are the religion’s major Fundamental beliefs (briefly
give at least three); what are the principal sources of authority
or basis for the religion or sect (such as scriptures, teachers, ,
and the like).
2. What are three major religious festivals or sacred days of the
religion.
*3. Describe iconography, art, symbols, images, cultic objects,
calligraphy visible in the place of worship (or that you can
observe in the videos)
4. Distinctive dress, articles of clothing, of members and/or
clergy of the religion you witnessed during visit or visible in
the videos.
*5. Ritual(s) followed, particular/distinctive practices or
gestures that you saw practiced during your visit or apparent in
the videos. (You should read the Livingston chapter on “Ritual’
before you do the site visit.)
*6. Describe how what you saw and heard impacted you; did
visit enhance your appreciation for that particular religious faith
and/or for religion in general; did you feel you were
"worshipping"?; did anything strike you in a negative way?;
what was the most positive result of your virtual visit?

2. Topic 4: Social Injustice and Cultural Identifiers
Research Rough Draft Feedback
Review your peers’ rough drafts on their chosen controversial
topics. Provide feedback for each person on their draft, utilizing
the expectations of the writing prompt when offering your
commentary. Share this document with your peers’ in the peer
review forum by the deadline.
Three areas of the draft that were successful (offer more than
just feedback on grammar, spelling, or punctuation; provide
feedback on the quality of the writing and the degree to which
the writing prompts are addressed).
1.
2.
3.
Three areas of the draft that need improvement (offer more than
just feedback on grammar, spelling, or punctuation; provide
feedback on the quality of the writing and the degree to which
the writing prompts are addressed).
1.
2.
3.
© 2020. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.
image1.png

3. 2
Desiree Muniz
Grand Canyon University
EDU-330
Cindy Segotta-Jones
10/2/2022Prayer in School: Religion as A Cultural Identifier
Prayer in schools is a controversial topic in K-12 education due
to the polarizing nature of the debate for and against. The
reasons that prayer is controversial is because of religious
rights and the use of time in schools. Human rights and
religious freedom has been a part of the conversation since
schools first opened in the United States. America was founded
on religious freedom and to get away from what our forefather’s
thought were tyrannical practices by the King of England. It had
something more to do with the pursuit of happiness. No one
wanted others telling them what to believe and how to practice
their religion in home nor school. If prayer were included as
part of school, there could be a fear of others telling the
public’s children what faith to practice. Time is also an
important commodity in schools. Time is something most
teachers agree that they do not have enough of. Add to this the
fact that the use of time is often used as a bargaining chip
between school districts and teacher unions. Time is something
that is negotiated. For example, days off, non-workdays, and the
number of minimum days are things that get negotiated between
bargaining units and school districts. The controversial issue
has to do with how students and staff might use their time while
in public school. It becomes more controversial when the
practice of prayer involves an encroachment on instructional
minutes or adding time to the day. This can affect the time a
teacher and students are able to go home. Instruction is
something generally managed between administration and
certificated staff. Instructional minutes must be accounted for
on an annual basis. For example, in California there is a

4. minimum of 180 minutes that must be provided to students in
kindergarten. and what they are dedicated to being used for,
teaching the Common Core State Standards. If prayer were
added it could extend the day. This could affect future teaching
and students by further taking away or adding time to the school
day if everyone were allowed to pray. Since the prayer is not
part of the standards it makes it controversial. Another reason
why prayer in school is a difficult subject is because of what the
United States Constitution says about separation of church and
state. More specifically, the first amendment in the Bill of
Rights says that Congress is not supposed to make any laws
regarding establishing a religion. Most people interpret this to
mean separation of church and state.
The cultural identifier related to prayer in schools is religion.
Religion is a faith-based practice taken up by a group of people
who are compelled to pray, preach, and practice their faith
towards a higher power. Religion is something that many
Americans participate in and regularly attend church in order to
congregate and dedicate their time and sometimes money (i.e.
tithe). Religion normally extends from the church to home. In
fact, many hotels in the United States still have bibles in the
dressers of their hotel rooms. Religion has to do with a person’s
relationship with their God or higher power. Christians pray to
Jesus Christ, Muslims pray to Allah, and Jewish people pray to
God. The connection between prayer in school and religion is
that one is not generally allowed in the other. Most public
schools prohibit prayer from being done during the instructional
day. But most religions require prayer. This means that there is
a problem in terms of our freedom to practice prayer in school.
If social justice is about equity and fairness of privilege and
opportunity, then social justice’s role in all of this essentially
means determining when prayer might be ok to practice in
school. Perhaps it is okay to do so during recess or break time,
and/or after school during a club’s time to meet. Religious clubs
allowed to take place after school on a voluntary and parent
permission type basis are solutions that exist to solving the

5. prayer in school issue.
American history plays an important role in the prayer in
schools and religion. One key historical event that affected
prayer in school is the Supreme Court case in 2021 of Kennedy
v. Bremerton School District where a coach was allowed to
offer a prayer after a football game. The gentleman involved in
this court battle lost his job as a football coach for kneeling
after a game and saying a private prayer on the field in front of
players. Mr. Kennedy sued in federal court alleging that the
school district violated his First Amendment Rights. What was
upheld by the court was that one could personally engage in a
personal religious observance. The court ruled that the
Constitution does not mandate nor permit government from
suppressing our religious expression. Mr. Kennedy’s case
highlighted the possible importance of prayer space (Stern &
Shillitoe, 2019). It we do not make it safe to pray then there
will be those, like this football coach, who run the risk of
getting caught and unfairly judged or punished. Also, in Maine
there was a court case of Carson v. Makin where the judges
ruled in favor of private religious schools receiving public
funding. This historical event dealt with tuition assistance for
parents. More specifically, for parents who wanted the state of
Maine to provide financial help for their children to attend
private religious schools. The parents felt that the state was
discriminating from their choice of schools and won the case in
court. The First Amendment protects against Americans being
penalized for free exercise of religion. This court ruling helped
parental efforts to be able to choose what schools their children
could attend. Religious schools are fortified by this effort. This
affects prayer because students in private religious schools pray
every day and attend church while on campus. The most
significant historical event involving prayer in school’s dates
back to 1962 in the court case of Engel v. Vitale where it was
decided that schools could not force students to recite a state-
written prayer. This involved government being told that they
could not draft formal prayers for students to say in any

6. government sponsored religious program. The court case said
that it was unconstitutional for public school to lead students in
prayer was key. This was viewed as a victory for those that
support religious freedom and hurt America’s religious
tradition.
Those in favor of prayer in school claim that it would lead to
less bullying and more tolerance. There might be less bullying
is students prayed for one another. Prayer has the potential for
healing and making students more emotionally intelligent. It
also has the potential to develop empathy. Students who have
empathy are more likely to be compassionate. It is a value
driven claim that puts a lot of stock in this idea that prayer is
righteous and makes us better people. Tolerance could be
increased if students felt and developed compassion for one
another thru prayer. Prayer in schools also may have the benefit
of teaching humility to students. When one prays, they are
praying to a higher power. Prayer involves an admittance that
there is an entity more powerful than oneself. Prayer can have a
humbling effect if we are willing to accept that we are not in
control of everything. In fact, according to a meta-analysis
students who prayed tended to do better in school (Jeynes,
2020).
Those opposed to prayer in schools say that it could have the
opposite affect and highlight differences. This might make us
less tolerable of each other. Those opposed also say that prayer
in school could have a negative side effect of forcing others to
believe the way their peers believe (i.e. peer pressure may make
certain students start following a religion that they did not
choose for themselves). When prayer is added to schools it has
the potential for the adults in charge to share their religious
beliefs and influence children. This may violate children’s
rights and the views of the parents who are not in attendance.
Parents may not want their children to be told how and what to
believe. Prayer opens this up as a possibility. Normally, prayer
is associated with a specific religion.
Prayer in schools affects teaching and learning because teachers

7. are human and have biases. Each teacher is entitled to their own
beliefs and religion. However, it may be difficult for teachers to
separate their biases if prayer is part of schools. This
controversial issue is similar to politics in schools. Teachers are
not allowed to campaign in class for a specific political party
nor candidate. Prayer in schools has the potential for involving
the same dynamic. Teaching and prayer might naturally bring up
the topic of God creating earth versus Darwinism and survival
of the fittest. Prayer can affect teaching by forcing teachers to
select a side and defend it, whether they believe in God or not.
Prayer affects learning because it includes a mindset and belief
system. If a student is Christian and believes in God, then they
may explain a topic or complete an assignment from a certain
perspective. Their learning may be affected by prayer in that if
a science lesson teaches nature versus nurture, then their
convictions may be tested. This could lead to doubt and the
student going home confused asking questions of their family. It
has the potential for more disruption in the home and at school.
This is why we must analyze this issue from all angles and
consider multiple viewpoints (Shillitoe & Strhan, 2020).
REFERENCES
Shillitoe, R., & Strhan, A. (2020). “Just leave it blank” non-
religious children and their negotiation of prayer in school.

8. Religion,
50(4), 615–635.
https://doi-
org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/0048721x.2020.1758230.
Stern, J., & Shillitoe, R. (2019). Prayer spaces in schools: a
subversion of policy implementation?
Journal of Beliefs & Values,
40(2), 228–245.
https://doi-
org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/13617672.2019.1596046.
Jeynes, W. (2020). A Meta-Analysis on the Relationship
between Prayer and Student Outcomes.
Education and Urban Society,
52(8), 1223–1237.
FORMAT FOR SITE VISIT REPORT
Name of Religious Site:
Branch, Denomination, or Sect of Religion you visited*
Worship or prayer service you attended: Day and Time
*E.g., Sunni or Shia mosque; Reformed, Conservative, or
Orthodox synagogue; Hare Krishna or more traditional Hindu
temple; Christian Catholic or Protestant (if Protestant, which
denomination: Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal,
etc.)
1. What are the religion’s major Fundamental beliefs (briefly
give at least three); what are the principal sources of authority
or basis for the religion or sect (such as scriptures, teachers, ,
and the like).

9. 2. What are three major religious festivals or sacred days of the
religion.
*3. Describe iconography, art, symbols, images, cultic objects,
calligraphy visible in the place of worship (or that you can
observe in the videos)
4. Distinctive dress, articles of clothing, of members and/or
clergy of the religion you witnessed during visit or visible in
the videos.
*5. Ritual(s) followed, particular/distinctive practices or
gestures that you saw practiced during your visit or apparent in
the videos. (You should read the Livingston chapter on “Ritual’
before you do the site visit.)
*6. Describe how what you saw and heard impacted you; did
visit enhance your appreciation for that particular religious faith
and/or for religion in general; did you feel you were
"worshipping"?; did anything strike you in a negative way?;
what was the most positive result of your virtual visit?
* Starred/boldfaced items should constitute the bulk of your
report, what you should give priority to when you write your
report. Also, it is important that you make an effort to enter
sympathetically into the religion you will be visiting or
observing. Make an effort to “put yourselves in their place”
and imagine you were there yourself. You do not have to agree
with what you see and hear, but you should make an effort to
understand it. After your visit and as you write your report, you
will have the opportunity to express your opinion about what
you witnessed.

10. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO LIVE IN SOUTH FLORIDA AND
WANT TO ATTEND A PLACE OF WORSHIP IN PERSON (IT
THE SITE ALLOWS IT), BELOW IS A DIRECTORY OF
MAJOR RELIGIOUS SITES IN SOUTH FLORIDA. IT IS
OUTDATED AND SOME SITES MAY HAVE MOVED OR DO
NOT EXIST, SO YOU SHOULD CHECK THEIR WEBSITES
OR CALL BEFORE YOU GO.
RELIGIOUS SITES OF SOUTH FLORIDA
A REMINDER TO ALL STUDENTS THAT THE SITE VISIT
AND REPORT MUST BE DONE FOR A RELIGIOUS
TRADITION
THAT IS NOT THE STUDENT'S OWN. If a
phone number is no longer valid, call information and please let
the instructor know that the number(s) has been changed so that
the directory can be updated. If you learn about other sites not
included below, please let the instructor know also.
I strongly recommend that you visit the site first to
familiarize yourself with location and the times officially given
by the personnel at the site. Any information concerning
service times given below are tentative.
ISLAMIC: the times to go are Fridays and Sundays at 1:30 p.m.
Female students can bring a scarf with them if they don’t want
to stand out, but it is not required.
Miami Gardens Mosque (Sunni) 4305 N.W. 183 street
Miami, Florida 33055

11. Mosque of Miami (Sunni) 7350 N.W. 3rd Street Miami, Florida
33126
305-261-7622
Masjid Al-Ansar (Sunni) 5245 N.W. 7th Avenue Miami, Florida
33127
305-757-8741
Islamic School of Miami Masjid al-Noor (Sunni) 11699 SW 147
Ave
Miami, FL 33196
(305) 408-0400
Tasnim Uddin, Principal of School
Friday: 1:30 pm, Islam School on Sundays: 10am-12pm (behind
the Exxon gas station)
Islamic Jafferia Association Imambara (Shia) 10554 N.W.
132nd Street
Hialeah Gardens, Florida 33016 (305) 557-6835
http://www.ijamiami.org/
Muhammad's Mosque # 29 (Nation of Islam) 5660 N.W. 7th
Ave.
Miami, Florida 305-756-9136
BAHAI
FIU Bahai Club 305-436-2490
Bahai Faith (South) 9300 S. Dixie Hwy. Miami, Florida
305-570-8886
Bahai Faith (North) 4365 Rock Island Rd.
Ft. Lauderdale

12. (North of Commercial) 954-524-4084
BUDDHIST
(Nichiren Buddhist)
Sokka Gakkai International Miami Community Center 20000
S.W. 36th St.
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33332 954-349-5200
Avalokiteshvara Buddhist Study Center 321 Lamont Road
Ft. Pierce, Florida 34947-1541 Email:
[email protected]
International Zen Institute of Florida (Buddhist) Dharma House
3860 Crawford Avenue
Miami, Florida 33133
305-448-8969
Wat Buddharangsi Temple (Thai, Buddhist) 15200 S.W., 240th
Street
Homestead, Florida 305-245-2702
International Dharma Center (Buddhist)
P.O. Box 141728 Coral Gables, Florida 33114-1728
305-267-8000 (Ileana Davis)
Kagyu Shedrup Chöling (Tibetan Buddhist) 1905 Monroe Street
Hollywood, Florida 33020 954-920-1346
HINDU: Plan to attend Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m.
Shiva Vishnu Temple 5661 Dykes Rd. (S.W. 160th Ave)
Pembroke Pines (Davie)
954-689-0471

13. [email protected]
(I-75 north, exit at Sheridan, go west to Dykes Road, then go
north for about a mile, temple on the left)
The South Florida Hindu Temple 13010 Griffin Road
Davie, Florida 954-438-3675
[email protected]
Hare Krishna Temple 3220 Virginia St.
Coconut Grove, Florida 305-442-7218
SIKH: Plan to attend Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m.
Sikh Society of Florida 16000 Sterling Rd.
Pembroke Pines, Florida 954-680-0221
(Same directions as to Shiva Hindu Temple, but closer to
Sheridan on Dykes Road)
JAIN
Jain Center of South Florida 1960 N. Commerce Parkway #11
Weston, FL 33326
Here is Direction Link for Jain center.
http://jaincentersfl.com/direction.html
JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN
Synagogues: Friday evenings, near Sundown; and Saturday
mornings, 8:00 a.m. only.
Christian churches: 11:00 a.m. morning service. Consult Yellow
Pages for synagogue or church nearest where you live.
Students are encouraged to do detective work and find
representatives of the other major world religions in Miami or
the South Florida area:
Taoism,

14. Confucianism (Chinese),
Shinto (Japanese), and
Zoroastrianism (Persian/Iranian, and mostly in Bombay,
India).
Instructions
1. ONE SITE VISIT REPORT IS REQUIRED. FORMAT TO
GUIDE IN WRITING THE REPORT IS FOUND AT THE END .
2. THE REPORT MUST BE 4-5 PAGES, DOUBLE SPACED,
12 PT FONT CALIBRI OR TIMES NEW ROMAN.