Religion in Public Schools essays

Religion in Public Schools essays The question Should prayer be allowed in public schools is one of the biggest debates in the minds and lips of Americans today. The open practice of religion in publicly funded schools is not a new debate, nor a simple one. Americans have been fighting about the separation of church and state issue longer than there have been Americans. These arguments have played out everywhere from the local football field to the halls of The United States Supreme Court. I believe that prayer and other forms of religious practice are best left at home and church under the guidance of parents and priests. I think this will prevent all of the problems that are associated with a non-secular approach to public education before they occur. I also believe that the Constitution of the United States has already provided its citizens with enough civil liberties in this area already. One cannot begin to support or contradict an opinion without first learning the background information and history of the issue. As James Fraser, Professor of History and Education Director of the Center for Innovation in Urban Education at Northwestern University, put it: Gods place within the public schools of the United States has been debatable, and subject to controversy, for as long as there have been public schools. In colonial America, religion played a central role in the schools of every colony, but the understanding of religion differed substantially from colony to colony. With the coming of nationhood and the separation of church and state on the federal level, the public school was pressed into service as a new kind of national church. (3) In summary, religion has always been there, right at the surface of the public school system and has been a source of morality for Americas children. Not until the past century has the population become so diverse, that the thought of challenging the old ways of thinking became pos...