Difference between revisions of "US/education/primary/public/prayer"

From Issuepedia
< US‎ | education‎ | primary‎ | public
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(→‎Notes: links: snopes pledge)
(updates, reformatting and SMW)
Line 1: Line 1:
[[Category:Issues]]
+
<hide>
==Overview==
+
[[page type::article]]
''A somewhat hastily-written summary:'' In the United States, the legal doctrine of [[separation of church and state]] requires that government-funded activities not be [[religious]] in nature. This includes public schools, which are (now) not allowed to call for prayer or other religious-oriented activities (though ironically, as far as I know they still do include the "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance). This apparently bothers many religiously-oriented people, for reasons which are not entirely clear.
+
[[thing type::activity]]
===Addendum===
+
[[country::United States]]
Apparently, private prayers are also forbidden, at least some of the time; it isn't clear whether this is official federal policy or something more like a vendetta being carried out by certain school administrations or individual staff. It's more clear why this would be upsetting, however.
+
[[category:issues]]
 +
[[category:religion]]
 +
</hide>
 +
==About==
 +
''This article needs to be renamed to reflect the fact that it is talking about the United States.''
  
 +
In the {{USA}}, the legal doctrine of [[separation of church and state]] requires that [[US/gov|government]]-funded activities not be [[religious]] in nature, in order to preserve [[separation of church and state]]. This includes public schools, which are not allowed to call for or conduct prayer or other religious activities (though ironically, as far as I know they still do include the relatively-new "under God" in the [[Pledge of Allegiance]], and this is seldom if ever questioned).
 +
 +
This apparently bothers many religiously-oriented people, for reasons which are not entirely clear.
 +
===Myth===
 +
There is a myth, widely propagated by leaders of the [[religious right]], that even individual religious expression (such as prayer) by students is forbidden; this is often described in inflammatory terms such as "kicking God out of the schools".
 +
 +
This misperception has been reinforced by a number of incidents in which school officials, for reasons which remain unclear, did in fact attempt to suppress such expression. The courts have almost always ruled in favor of the individual's freedom to religious expression.
 +
 +
Another myth is that the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] (ACLU) has been complicit in these attempts, defending the school rather than the individual freedom of expression; in fact, the ACLU have many times defended freedom of religious expression, including that of Christians, Muslims, and other religious groups.
 
==Related Articles==
 
==Related Articles==
 
* [[Prayer in public schools]] often becomes an [[issue]] in the {{USA}} because of its encroachment on the [[separation of church and state]].
 
* [[Prayer in public schools]] often becomes an [[issue]] in the {{USA}} because of its encroachment on the [[separation of church and state]].
 
+
* [[The Sneeze (internet chain mail)]] purports to be a true story in which students were forbidden from expressing religious sentiment.
 
==Links==
 
==Links==
* [http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/pledge.htm Snopes] verifies that an appeals court ruled that teacher-led recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional.
+
===Reference===
==Notes==
+
* {{wikipedia|School prayer#United States}}
I'm seeing claims (e.g. [[The Sneeze (internet chain mail)|The Sneeze]]) that it's not just teachers and staff who are not allowed to conduct religious activities, but that even students are not allowed to conduct them &ndash; that even the mention of "God" at a school event is somehow not allowed. ''Is this true?'' --[[User:Woozle|Woozle]] 20:59, 30 May 2006 (EDT)
+
* {{conservapedia|Classroom prayer}}
 
+
** see also: [[conservapedia:Debate:Should class room prayer be allowed in Public Schools?]]
:It depends on the case, the school, the teacher, etc. My son has been reprimanded for saying a private prayer to himself before lunch at school. For me that falls under the First Amendment, "...free exercise thereof..."  This is one of the biggest issues I have with the ACLU. They will fight for vulgarians and others to say what offensive garbage they want, but not fight for the free exercise of religion. [[User:Midian|Midian]] 16:17, 28 July 2006 (EDT)
+
* [http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/pledge.htm Snopes] verifies that an appeals court ruled that teacher-led recitation of the [[Pledge of Allegiance]] in public schools is unconstitutional.
:: I think I agree with you on this one; I'm no fan of religion, by any means, but I do feel pretty strongly that personal, private prayer should be allowed. Can you come up with any examples of the ACLU declining to defend such a case? I should add that I ''do'' see a potential problem when the prayer (or other religious speech) goes beyond the personal (private prayer, or speech between friends), but I think it can be treated as ethically equivalent to advertising -- annoying and inappropriate in some contexts (like McDonald's printing the school's nutrition guide) but helpful in others (Craig's List), and there should be similar guidelines for governing when it is allowed. --[[User:Woozle|Woozle]] 19:04, 28 July 2006 (EDT)
 

Revision as of 02:32, 20 April 2013

About

This article needs to be renamed to reflect the fact that it is talking about the United States.

In the United States, the legal doctrine of separation of church and state requires that government-funded activities not be religious in nature, in order to preserve separation of church and state. This includes public schools, which are not allowed to call for or conduct prayer or other religious activities (though ironically, as far as I know they still do include the relatively-new "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, and this is seldom if ever questioned).

This apparently bothers many religiously-oriented people, for reasons which are not entirely clear.

Myth

There is a myth, widely propagated by leaders of the religious right, that even individual religious expression (such as prayer) by students is forbidden; this is often described in inflammatory terms such as "kicking God out of the schools".

This misperception has been reinforced by a number of incidents in which school officials, for reasons which remain unclear, did in fact attempt to suppress such expression. The courts have almost always ruled in favor of the individual's freedom to religious expression.

Another myth is that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been complicit in these attempts, defending the school rather than the individual freedom of expression; in fact, the ACLU have many times defended freedom of religious expression, including that of Christians, Muslims, and other religious groups.

Related Articles

Links

Reference