Do you really care if school prayer is legalized?

Pre-College Topics High School Life
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<p>As long as no one is forced to pray or socially isolated when they abstain, I’m fine with it. The problem is, some teachers don’t know where to draw the line and so they might find it okay to lead prayer before going to lunch without really forcing anyone to, but incorporating prayer into the classroom in a socially isolating way for non-Christians. That would obviously be a problem…</p>

<p>I’m an atheist, by the way.</p>

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<p>Just as much as they can’t force people to pray…to ban so is going against freedom of religion as well.</p>

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<p>Agree with most people that it’s fine if it doesn’t disrupt classes or other people or something.</p>

<p>Back to the issue of the Bible and other religious texts being taught in school, though. I do agree that courses focused on those texts religiously should not be forced, but I see no problem with having mandatory courses that use them as literature. For example, in my English class we just finished Kafka’s Metamorphosis and read some of Genesis to understand some of the religious symbolism in the book. Whether or not they’re works that are religious to an individual person is irrelevant in this case; they’re works of literature.</p>

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<p>^Yup. I’m taking Bible as Literature for my English elective this year (senior year). It’s a really cool class and I’m enjoying it because it’s not taught as a religion class, so it’s a different way to look at the BIble. There’s lots of other electives seniors can take so the district never has problems offering the class.</p>

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<p>I don’t see why students shouldn’t be allowed to pray aloud in school. People rant about politics, they curse and carry on, and no one says anything. Those things influence people all the time. Why is it that whenever God or some other religious being is inserted into a conversation everyone goes up in arms?</p>

<p>And why shouldn’t there be elective classes about religion? If you don’t have to take it, don’t worry about it. I really don’t understand why people get so worked up about things that don’t affect them. Being forced to observe 5 minutes of prayer, I can definetely understand, because that directly affects you. But other people praying? Or taking religous classes? Come on…</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t care. I personally pray at home though.</p>

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<p>i dont think its illegal to pray on your own time (freedom of religion, right?), just as long as the faculty doesn’t force you to pray.</p>

<p>btw, i dont really care cuz i go to a catholic school so we pray before every class anyway.</p>

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<p>If someone could prove that it isn’t the beginning of a downward slope into a theocracy, I wouldn’t care.</p>

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<p>I hate the slippery slope theory, because theoretically you could apply that to anything and then nothing would be legal.</p>

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<p>^Hence why slippery slope is a logical fallacy.</p>

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<p>I would care. I would care a lot. I have no interest in Christian prayer, except that it makes some people I know happy to do it. I’m Jewish and I would be disgusted if anyone (Jew or not) were forced in any way to pray in any fashion. Silent prayer is legal. It would be unconstitutional to legalize prayer in school, and, law aside, I am morally against it. Let education be nonsectarian. The idea of enforced, or even school sponsored, prayer in a public school makes me sick to my stomach.</p>

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<p>Theocracy isn’t all that bad. As long as you’re not a virgin, you won’t be sacrificed at the alter. Thankfully, in this society of ours, virgins are quite lacking :P</p>

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<p>hm - I just read - this is how public prayer got banned: (now I’d have an issue with public prayer)
[Madalyn</a> Murray O’Hair - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“Madalyn Murray O'Hair - Wikipedia”>Madalyn Murray O'Hair - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>I’m surprised - the ban officially came quite late. </p>

<p>I’ve also read a post from someone at CC who felt offended whenever people mentioned God in valedictorian speeches. </p>

<p>I also was watching ads of the 2006 senate races one day, and was watching the ad supporting Robert Byrd’s 2006 re-election - which said that he was all for allowing children to independently practice silent prayer in school. and I was puzzled - since i didn’t think it was prohibited</p>

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<p>How can anyone be so dumb as to think that silent prayer is prohibited???</p>

<p>I swear, sometimes I feel like 1984 isn’t a dystopian fairytale but our near future…</p>

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<p>Well, apparently Ron Paul and Robert Byrd are saying that silent prayer isn’t allowed or something…</p>

<p>[Search</a> Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress)](<a href=“http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:h.j.r.00046:]Search”>http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:h.j.r.00046:)</p>

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<p>Maybe it’s that they feel that it’s under attack or something..</p>
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<p>That’s hilarious considering how much of the western world is soaked in religion. If you knew absolutely nothing about Christianity you would clearly be lost in your indisputably neccessary course for atleast the half of the class. </p>

<p>An understanding of what Christianity is is pretty important to a thorough understanding of at least the first 100-150 years of American history. I personally believe most people can go without both, but to say that one is undisputably necessary knowledge is ignorant.</p>