Prayer in school?

As long as its not school sponsered and ALL religion is allowed I dont really have a problem with it. But if you allow a Christian Prayer group you would also have to allow a Satanic black mass, right?

Originally posted by Emily_Cragg
If a school wants to give students time to meditate and pray outside of classes, or give them access to religious services, or allow them to wear the clothes that are appropriate for their calling--

schools can cooperate with churches without spoon-feeding one religion down the throats of all the diverse children.

This is exactly how I feel. I have no problems with public schools giving the students a time to "meditate". However they decide to use it is up to them as long as it is not disruptive. It actually might be beneficial for students as it could act as way to lower stress.

I was never offended by prayer in school...as a matter of fact, when I was in high school, I started a christian prayer group that met before school. I will say that prayer in school is something that should not be condoned, but allowed in restricted situations (ie. study halls, before/after school) but not in a classroom setting. There are too many religions in this world to make sure no one is left out. In a public school setting that is. We could get into a whole other thread about parochial schools. But, I digress. I think the big issue is faculty are requiring it of students, or disallowing only certain religions. That's not right.

Originally posted by Amuk
As long as its not school sponsered and ALL religion is allowed I dont really have a problem with it. But if you allow a Christian Prayer group you would also have to allow a Satanic black mass, right?

Your absolutely right about that. if you allow one you should allow the other, but if a bunch of kids started to get to into it. they would put a stop to it.

Originally posted by Carseller4
No organized prayer in schools is a good thing. But, if students gather on their own and pray, or if they are eating lunch together and want to say grace, this is perfectly fine and should be allowed

For once Carseller and I are in agreement. It doesn't happen often... but the thing is, yes, if outside class the Christian students want to start a club with the help of the school minister, I don't see why that would be a problem.

When I was a kid, we started class in the morning with "Our Father" and "Hail Mary". This was normal, since it was a Catholic school... but I wouldn't see that in the public school system, either in Canada or the U.S.

Originally posted by bordnlazy

Originally posted by Amuk
As long as its not school sponsered and ALL religion is allowed I dont really have a problem with it. But if you allow a Christian Prayer group you would also have to allow a Satanic black mass, right?

Your absolutely right about that. if you allow one you should allow the other, but if a bunch of kids started to get to into it. they would put a stop to it.

I MEANT if they started to really get into satan worshipping on school grounds

[edit on 3-12-2004 by bordnlazy]

Originally posted by bordnlazy

I MEANT if they started to really get into satan worshipping on school grounds

Therein lies the problem. If a child is allowed to bring a bible to school and hold prayer meetings should another be stopped just because he was a devil worshiper?

It doesnt matter to me as long as the rule is applied equally, Christians should be allowed a Manger scene at Christmas just like any other religion on their holidays.

But if you allow ANY of them you must allow ALL of them

[edit on 3-12-2004 by Amuk]

I agree with Amuk. Prayer is a personal thing, and has nothing to do with school, insofar as the school cirliculim goes anyways. I've always advocating the teaching of theology in schools, but subjective faith should be left to "clubs" and such as out-of-school projects.

Deep

If a muslim chooses to live in a "bible" belt and not a "koran" belt, hes going to have to live with it and adjust... The bible belts aren't just going to change all of a sudden....

Catholic schools do prayers in the morning, public schools don't... If athiests have a problem with prayers in the morning and religion classes, they shouldn't be sending their kids to a PUBLIC school...


It's kinda like looking at a 350 pounder.. You don't like it, don't look...

There is always a choice! Why should people have to accomodate those who don't agree with their ways when there is always someone who will accomodate their ways... These people are just # distubers imo...



[edit on 27-12-2004 by TrueLies]

I was born and bred in apublic school lifestyle, and I must say, it puts those private school patsies to shame. I cannot stand religious schools in any way, shape or form. Do you find learning about the pythagorean theorum one period and 45 minutes later learning about why Christ died for you a healthy lifestyle? I sure as hell don't.

So prayer in school? Why in the world is this even an issue? Seriously, those people who claim "Oh well let's say a christian prayer one day, a jewish prayer the next, etc etc etc" are complete morons. There aren't enough days in a millenia to accomodate every new age psycho-electric religion that the Atkins mob is blurting out at us. God does not belong in the classroom. There's a difference between studying religion and being forced to accept it.

Which category do you think class-lead prayer falls into?

Oh and here's more beef I have- why is it that the plethora of Christian clubs at my school get free reign over everything, even allowed to lead the announcements EVERY MORNING, while a gay-straight alliance club has such a hard time being founded? I believe they've been trying to pass that for about 3 months now and no result. Oh wait, all the faculty emmebers are too busy singing hip new church songs in the auditorium to take our calls.

I'm sorry, I am biased against them.

[edit on 12-27-04 by Scat]

I myself believe in no god. During the pledge of allegiance, i just don't say under god. It wouldnt bother me if people wanted to pray in school, go ahead. You just have to have it so all the whole is able to pray not just one group. I don't care, but i think religion and politics, religion and school should be seperate, but i really dont care