The topic of prayer in public schools is not currently discussed by the media and politicians as much as other issues relevant to religion and government. However I have an opinion on it and I figure it is a good of an issue as any to blog on, so here ya go:
A lot of Christians are quick to tell you decisions such as Engel v. Vitale (1962) and Abington School District v. Schempp (1963), where the Supreme Court ruled school-sponsored prayer was a violation of the Establishment Clause, are some of the moments where our nation began a downward spiral away from God; a spiral we are still suffering from today.
I disagree. If you think about it, prayer was not taken out of our schools. Mandatory prayer was. As far as I know, students are still allowed to exercise their 1st Amendment right and pray at school. They are also free to have religious after-school activities. They just can't disrupt class without getting in trouble. It's not as if, when the courts decided that prayer couldn’t be a part of official school programming, we all of a sudden weren't allowed to pray at our schools. We just simply stopped. That's on us, not the government. Besides, I think the Jesus was pretty clear about mandatory, ritualistic prayers that don't come from the heart in Matthew 6:5-13. And, let's face it, that is all we lost in those decisions.
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