Prayer in School
by Andrea Ray
English
4/23/2012
Prayer in School Thesis Statement
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In the United States, there is a daily constant battle
going on between the ability to pray in public or not.
For the supporters of public prayer, the constitution
supports their freedom of religion to be able to uplift
prayers whenever they wish. For the ones who oppose
public prayer, the constitution states the separation of
church and state. The United States has had a moral
decline since prayers were taken out of our schools.
Prayers in school should be allowed to help train our
youth to follow the path of righteous living.
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In this study, “America: To Pray or Not to Pray,”
David Barton has graphically illustrated how
America has fallen from righteous living,
prosperity, and success in the last century.
America’s moral decline rapidly increased
following the U.S. Supreme Court’s removal of
prayer from our nation’s schools. On June 25,
1962, 39 million students were forbidden to
publically call upon the name of the Lord at the
beginning of each school day. This had been
allowed since the founding of our nation.
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The school children who had prompted this
ruling had prayed: almighty God, we recognize
our dependence on Thee and ask Thy blessing
on us, our parents, our teachers, and our
nations.”
America has undergone severe decline in the
four areas which the children’s prayer
mentioned: youth, family, education, and
national life. In 1980 the election of President
Reagan led to a renewed emphasis on
“traditional” values. This has led only to a slight
recovery.
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The third commandment demands us “not to
take the name of the Lord in vain.” Therefore,
removing prayer from schools was a violation of
this commandment. When the Court forbid
invocation, they raised a system of education
beyond the authority, reach and blessing of
God. They treated the Lord’s name with
contempt, denied it rightful place and stripped it
from public use and children’s vocabulary. Many
of these judges had been raised in Christian
homes.
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The U.S. Supreme Court violated the third
commandment in 1961 which initiated the way
for removing the Lord’s name from children’s
language. The court overruled a provision of
the Maryland Constitution which made “a
declaration of belief in the existence of God”
compulsary for holding public office. This case
was Torcaso vs. Watkins. Torcaso, an atheist,
was refused a notary public commission because
he would not quote the required oath. The
court ruled to uphold atheism and overruled the
Maryland Constitution.
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On this 1961 ruling, Columnist Felix Morley
pointed out “the absurdity of having an official
administer to others oaths in the sanctity of
which he does not himself believe.”
The effect of this ruling has two purposes: to
eliminate the sacredness of the name of God
and the substance of the oath itself. By
removing these solemn oaths and binding
contracts between individuals, the state sits
where God should, and only the state’s cause is
held valid. The state controls all affairs of life
rather than individual control
There are many individuals in the country who have been
active in the movement to remove prayer or any
concept of God from all aspects of life. One of those
people is named Madelyn Murray. She tried to
obliterate the concept of God and Christianity. Murray
despised religion and burst onto the national stage in
the early 1960’s with a lawsuit she filed against a public
school for religious exercises in Baltimore, Maryland.
She believed religion didn’t belong in public education
because she said children needed to be able to work on
problems encountered on earth, not get ready for
heaven.
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The Supreme Court case Engel v. Vitale (1962)
was the landmark case that struck down school
prayer as a violation of the “establishment”
clause of the First Amendment. Many people
want to use the argument that prayer cannot be
allowed because it is a violation of Church and
State. But what about the rights of the people
who believe in God and their constitutional
rights of Freedom of Religion?
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The arguement from those who oppose school prayer
is the Establishment clause in the First Amendment of
the U.S. Constitution. The First Amendment reads as
“Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof. Many people twist and turn the
wording of that amendment to help support their own
cause. However, it seems that religious prayers are
acceptable in this country if it is a Muslim prayer to
their god. However, Bible believing Christians are not
allowed the same rights and freedoms.

After the cases Engel v. Vitale and Abington
School District v. Schempp (1963), statesponsored prayer in schools were prohibited by
the U.S. Supreme Court. After these cases were
ruled on by the justices, another monumental
case known as the Lemon v. Kurtzman was
heard by the court, which established the Lemon
Test for such activities held within statesponsored schools.
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This Lemon Test provides three criteria for schools to
adhere to for any practice to be constitutional under the
Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The
three criteria are: 1) have a secular purpose; 2) Must
neither advance or inhibit religion; and 3) must not
result in an excessive entanglement between
government and religion. Students may be allowed to
pray in schools in the U.S. as long as it is not officially
sponsored by the school and doesn’t disrupt others
from work. Several students have started having prayer
events before and after school after this ruling, such as
“gather around the pole”.
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There is an inspirational role model for the
youth and even adults to look up to for staying
true to his beliefs. Tim Tebow, former Florida
Gators quarterback and current quarterback for
the New York Jets in the NFL, has been a
promoter for the Freedom of Religious Rights
and an encouragement to all who believe in God
and prayer to stand up for what you believe.
Tebow has consistently demonstrated his
religious devotion in his college and pro-football
career.
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Tim Tebow is known for his showing Muscular
Christianity by sharing his Christian faith and beliefs
with fans and in clinics, hospitals, market places,
schools, and orphanages. He frequently wore
references to biblical verses on his eye black during his
college football career. He wore John 3:16 on his eye
black for the 2009 BCS Championship game. He also
would kneel in prayer on the field after a touchdown.
His devotion has led many others to follow in his
footsteps. However, the NCAA banned messages on
eye paint in 2010 in a new rule named the “Tebow
Rule” which goes to prove there are groups always
there trying to stop religious freedom.
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There were two Riverhead High School football
players that were suspended for a day because of
leading other students to kneel in prayer in a reenactment of NFL quarterback Tim Tebow’s
kneeling in prayer. The school officials claim
they suspended the students because they
created a potentially dangerous situation by
encouraging this action. The Superintendent of
the school said the suspensions had nothing to
do with the religious nature of the gesture.
Most people of faith know this is about the
fight about religious freedom of individuals.
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It is a sad day in America when it is alright for
one group to be given freedom to worship their
chosen god, but Christian believing youth and
adults are not given the same rights, even
suspended from their school or loss of a job for
expressing their religious rights. There have
been several instances across the United States
with students following Tebow’s demonstration
of faith by re-enactment of kneeling in prayer
called “Tebowing.” Many of these students
have experienced their individual religious rights
infringed upon by being suspended for their
actions.
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Students are supposed to have the right to
participate in prayer activities if it is student led,
not sponsored by state-sponsored institutions.
However, a student giving a speech for a High
School Graduation is not allowed to lead a
prayer in the program even if it is of their own
accord and not promoted by the school without
fear of being expelled or not receiving their
diplomas. However, this country is supposed to
allow the people religious freedom?
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The decline in the moral fiber that made this country
such a great place to live has continued to worsen ever
since school prayer was taken out of our schools. Since
school prayer has been taken out of the schools, the
students in our school doesn’t have the one thing that
helps to encourage them for following the rules of
righteous living. Since school prayer has been taken out
of school, there has been a large increase of violence in
the schools, such as school shootings, increase in
bullying, inappropriate relations with faculty and
students, and the list goes on and on. It all can be
traced back to the removal of prayer in the schools.
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After more than 25 years of severe moral
decline, we need to repent, respect the name of
the Lord, reinstate and abide by the third
commandment. If the United States would turn
around from this path that started back in 1962,
there may be less school shootings, less bullying,
more caring about each other, and a better
environment to raise our children.
Bibliography
1 David Barton, America: To Pray or Not to Pray, (Aledo, TX:
Specialty Research Associates).
2 Oswald Chambers, The Best from All His Books, (Oliver Nelson
Books, 1987).
3 Dierenfield, B.J. (2007). “The Most Hated Woman in America”:
Madalyn Murray and the Crusade against School Prayer. Journal
of Supreme Court History.
4 “School Prayer” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_prayer).
5 “Tim Tebow” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Tebow).
6 “Long Island high-school students suspended for ‘Tebowing,’
mimicking Broncos QB Tim Tebow”
(http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/li_tebow_taunters)