# Just remembered after almost 50 years, we used to pray in school! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 25, 2019, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-remembered-after-almost-50-years-we-used-to-pray-in-school/845378 "2019-12-25T01:47:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2019, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-remembered-after-almost-50-years-we-used-to-pray-in-school/845378/21 "2019-12-26T22:16:34Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The official NY State school prayer (and yes, this is real): > > _“Our father, we acknowledge our dependence on thee. We ask your blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our country. Amen.”_ > > Designed to be as nondenominational as possible. In the US, wasn’t “religious freedom” historically seen as compromise between Protestants and Catholics by tolerating one another? In that context it’s pretty nondenominational. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-remembered-after-almost-50-years-we-used-to-pray-in-school/845378/22 "2019-12-27T00:14:00Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > We prayed in school all the time, and nobody complained. It was a Catholic school. 🙂 Yeah, me, too. We also had to stand up any time a nun or priest came into our room and say “Good morning, Sister \_\_\_\_\_\_ (or Reverend Mother)” or “Good afternoon, Father \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.” We also said our prayers kneeling by our desks. One of the tricks some kids liked to pull was to kneel on the back of your feet and push you in the back. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-remembered-after-almost-50-years-we-used-to-pray-in-school/845378/23 "2019-12-27T00:59:36Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > In the US, wasn’t “religious freedom” historically seen as compromise between Protestants and Catholics by tolerating one another? In that context it’s pretty nondenominational. True, but NYS also had a significant Jewish population, so it had to be something acceptable to that community. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-remembered-after-almost-50-years-we-used-to-pray-in-school/845378/24 "2019-12-27T18:38:12Z")
> [@lingyi](#): > > I generally ignore the debates about prayer in school, but a random memory just came to me, we used to pray before lunch in school! > > I don’t know if it was a specific teacher, but when we ate lunch in class, which was only for the early grades or when the cafeteria was flooded, we’d pray: “God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food. Amen.” As far as I know no one protested and it was just a rote thing, like the Pledge of Allegiance. My kids went to a Presbyterian nursery school and they used that also (no complaints, we knew what we were getting into.) I did teach it to my daugher in horsey talk, which whe remembers 35 years later. I remember that assemblies in my elementary school started with some nondenominational prayer in the late '50s, early '60s. None in junior high. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-remembered-after-almost-50-years-we-used-to-pray-in-school/845378/25 "2019-12-27T22:55:26Z")
There were no prayers in my MN public school district from being a child in the 60s and 70s. Unless you count the Pledge of Allegience (which I don’t). ---
**Author:** ![Kzbre5m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kzbre5m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kzbre5m)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-remembered-after-almost-50-years-we-used-to-pray-in-school/845378/26 "2019-12-28T00:43:47Z")
Parents in the school district I grew up in (but before my time) are the ones that started it all, getting rid of public school prayer, by suing the school board. Went all the way to the Supreme Court. So I never prayed in school, though I do remember “a moment of silence” after the Pledge of Allegiance. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-remembered-after-almost-50-years-we-used-to-pray-in-school/845378/27 "2019-12-28T01:37:56Z")
My late-1950s suburban Los Angeles elementary school didn’t force prayers in class but had regular religion sessions in trailers in the parking lot - Jews excused. Lutheran grade school: many prayers, easily ignored - catechism was worse. Public junior high and high school: no prayers except before exams, privately, and sports games, loudly. My high school team was the Red Devils so praying for victory was fun. Bless those devils, hey? ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-remembered-after-almost-50-years-we-used-to-pray-in-school/845378/28 "2019-12-28T02:08:16Z")
In my middle school in the early 1990s, in south Florida, (which had a large Jewish population, FWIW), our morning announcements would end with “a moment for private meditation.” I always thought that was a good way of allowing those who wanted to pray to be able to do so. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-remembered-after-almost-50-years-we-used-to-pray-in-school/845378/29 "2019-12-28T02:16:42Z")
Elementary school and junior high were in Valdosta GA, 1967-1972. We had prayer, reading from the Bible every day by the teacher, and plays with overtly religious themes in elementary school. In junior high, we had apostolic witnesses come into our morning home room and talk about being saved. Public school throughout. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-remembered-after-almost-50-years-we-used-to-pray-in-school/845378/30 "2019-12-28T03:27:20Z")
Religion isn’t a big thing where I grew up in New Zealand. If you are into it, whatever. If not, equally whatever. But for my Primary School education (age 5-10, 1970s) we did have a local vicar come in every week and give an hour or so of religious education, mostly just Bible stories. I never questioned it, aside from it being boring, but I think it stopped after a while, I can’t remember why. I’ve never been religious, it’s all a lot of hokum to me, and early religious education just bounced off me like they were fairy tales. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-remembered-after-almost-50-years-we-used-to-pray-in-school/845378/31 "2019-12-28T15:39:33Z")
I did for 5 years but it was a Catholic school. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-remembered-after-almost-50-years-we-used-to-pray-in-school/845378/32 "2019-12-28T15:57:14Z")
I went to Catholic schools kindergarten through high school graduation starting in 1958. In grade school daily mass was a requirement and counted as our first class. I had a F in religion on my report card in eighth for skipping morning mass too many times. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-remembered-after-almost-50-years-we-used-to-pray-in-school/845378.md?page=1)