prayer in school

[zipper]

was prayer a common practice in the public schools before the supreme court decision in 1962 or 63. I went to three different schools during the 1950’s and I don’t remember any prayer in any of them. my father went to school during the 1930’s any he said he dose not remember any prayer in school.

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

I certainly remember it. Now I was only in first grade by the time the decision came down, but I remember being admonished to pray to the lord jesus our savior before naps, snacks, and lunch. And this was in a public school. We were led in prayer by the teachers and administrators.

[hajario]

My Mother graduated from High School in around 1955. She attended a High School in Brooklyn, New York that was 98% Jewish. Every Monday the whole school assembled in the auditorium for Bible readings that more often than not were from the “New” Testament.

Haj

[MEBuckner]

From the brochure Eleven Myths About Church and State from Americans United for Separation of Church and State:

MYTH: School-sponsored prayer and Bible reading took place in all public schools before 1962.

FACT: Several state supreme courts had already removed government-sponsored school prayer and Bible reading from public schools prior to 1962. The Illinois Supreme Court, for example, declared mandatory public school religious exercises unconstitutional in 1910. By the time of the Engel decision, public school-sponsored religious exercises were most common in Northeastern and Southern states. Some Western and Midwestern states had already removed the practices.

A 1960 survey by Americans United determined that only five states had required Bible reading laws on the books. Twenty-five states had laws authorizing “optional” Bible reading. Eleven states had declared the practice unconstitutional. (The remaining states had no laws on the subject.) The trend was clearly running in favor of a voluntary phase out of these practices.