In Language Arts we have to write a persuasive essay, and mine was on why there shouldn’t be school prayer. Just wondering what my fellow Dopers think I should add or change or delete to help my statement. (I put this in Great Debates because of the topic, and wondering what some counter arguments could be.)
Imagine this scene in schools across America: children reciting something that implies everyone that is not their religion is “unsaved,” “immoral,” and wrong, while the insulted students are forced to sit nearby, a captive audience. Christian fundamentalists seek to make organized school prayer the norm in public schools, without realizing that is discriminatory, unnecessary and un-Constitutional.
First of all, and most importantly, school prayer should not be practiced because it is discriminatory. One-sixth of all students are not Christian and would object to their school establishing Christianity as its official religion. Even allowing non-Christian students to leave class during the daily prayer singles them out as being somehow inferior and different, and leave them subject to peer pressure. At this school, Chad Robinson, a Christian fundamentalist, attempts to convert atheists. Three years ago he even tried to baptize one without the other’s consent. With school prayer enforced, more and more students would be identified and could fall prey to his abuses, just because they are a religion that he does not approve of. Some other proponents of school prayer argue that it should be reintroduced to schools because Christianity is the majority religion in this country. This is erroneous for many reasons. We may live in a democratic republic, but that does not mean everything is decided by a simple vote. People should be allowed to choose their religions, regardless of the fact that there may be more in one or the other. Majority and mob rule is not in practice in this country because oppressive majorities may infringe on the rights of the minority. Just because there were more whites than African-Americans during the Jim Crow days did not make segregation right.
In addition to being discriminatory, school prayer should be discouraged because it is unnecessary. Jesus himself was not in favor of school prayer. He is quoted in the book of Matthew as saying that Christians should not be like the hypocrites who parade their piety, and instead go into their rooms and close the doors before praying quietly. Besides, students are already allowed to voluntarily pray. Prohibiting a student from saying grace before a meal, or saying “Dear God, let me pass this test” would defy the First Amendment just as much as organized school prayer would. Just because the government is neutral does not mean it is oppressive, and there are sixteen hours each day (not to mention weekends) during which worship and prayer can be practiced as needed without infringing on the rights of others, as school sponsored prayer would. Yet another reason fundamentalists argue in favor of this practice is because “America is becoming more and more immoral.” They say that since organized prayer was outlawed in public schools teen pregnancies and school shootings have gone up. Those occurrences may be happening, but it has absolutely nothing to do with children not praying enough. Japan has no school prayer, and that country still has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. Arguing that our country is immoral because students don’t pray at school is like saying Geraldo Rivera isn’t President of the United States because mice don’t give birth to camels.* The two things have nothing to do with each other.
As well as being discriminatory and unnecessary, school prayer interferes with the Constitution. The First Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” School prayer would interfere with the establishment clause, as the Supreme Court has ruled many times in the past forty years. Unfortunately, some people just won’t take no for an answer. Even in the light of evidence strongly pointing otherwise, many fundamentalists argue that the United States is a “Christian nation” because the founding fathers were Christian. First of all, the founding fathers were not in uniform agreement on this, or on any issue. Many of them were Christian, true, but most of them, even the Christian ones, believed in freedom and equality for all. (Or said they did, despite owning slaves.) James Madison, the writer of the Constitution, put the First Amendment in for a reason. To cite another example, Thomas Jefferson, who is credited with creating the phrase “separation of church and state” was a Deist that did not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, as Christians do.
With the legal issues raised by the Constitutionality of school prayer, the moral issues involved in discriminating against millions of children and the needs severely questioned, it is obvious that school-sponsored prayer would create division rather than introduce the harmony that its advocates should be preaching.
- – Note: Molly Ivins said, in Shrub, “The bill passed the Legislature with about as much difficulty as a mouse would have giving birth to a camel.” So that’s where I got that.
