# US Dopers: were you ever obliged to pray in public schools? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 18, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077 "2009-11-18T21:40:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/41 "2009-11-19T08:51:15Z")
1980s, Maryland suburbs of DC. Never. In one of my high schools we didn’t even say the Pledge. ---
**Author:** ![Peg\_Leg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/90db22/32.png) [@Peg\_Leg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peg_Leg)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/42 "2009-11-19T09:03:10Z")
Yes. Went to a public Alabama high school at the beginning of the decade. Frequently we had prayers at football games, assemblies, pep rallies, etc. Even had an assembly where a YEC came to tell us that dinosaurs still exist and that the grand canyon exists not because of erosion, but because god made it so. When Aaliyah died in a plane crash, someone prayed over the intercom during the morning annoucements. Can’t recall anyone calling for prayer in the middle of a class, but it happened several times when the entire student body was together. Occasionally they’d say “Anyone that objects can leave now,” but no one would ever leave, perhaps because they didn’t want to be the single person walking out of the auditorium. That’s how I felt at least. ---
**Author:** ![groo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecd19e/32.png) [@groo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/43 "2009-11-19T09:25:01Z")
NYC (Flushing, Queens) through ninth grade (1966 thru 1975): no prayers no how. In elementary school we said the Pledge of Allegiance every day ("… under God"), but that may have ended before I entered the fifth grade. There were many fairly religious students (mostly Catholic & Jewish), but I don’t recall any weirdness, either from the faculty or the students. That is, no religion-motivated weirdness. Near suburb of Chicago through HS graduation (1978): no prayers no how, but both my American History and World History classes devoted a few weeks to various religions from a perspective of when & where they started and who wanted them dead. Though the bulk of the students were from various Christian sub-genres, there didn’t seem to be much overt religious presence in the school. I dunno – the tolerance of Christmas and Hannukah, ash-on-foreheads and yarmulkes, fish sticks on Fridays, etc. seemed to be a good balance, and if anyone was cheesed off about being oppressed, they didn’t show it. Note, however, that all of my public school attendance was in relatively large metropolitan areas. Nowadays we have so little “official” tolerance for the merest hint of religion that it kinda pisses me off, and I’m an atheist! Why can’t we remember and admit the ways in which various religions affected our cultural development? It’s not like they’ll give others the cooties, and it only pushes the wing-nut types to become wing-nut types. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/44 "2009-11-19T12:41:34Z")
Public elementary schools in New Jersey late 1960s until 1973 - never as far as I recall. _Maybe_ a non-denominational invocation at graduation. OK, “God Bless America” was in the list of songs we sang at music assemblies. And one Hanukkah song during the Christmas assembly, among the carols. The schools usually had Jewish holidays off, officially because so many teachers were Jewish. I don’t recall if the cafeteria served fish during Lent. The private high school I attended had a non-denominational chapel service weekly, but except for me mentally editing Jesus out of the prayers (I’m Jewish), it was no big deal. My kids are in public schools in northern Virginia, and I’ve never heard of prayers in school. Well, I haven’t heard of public group prayers. “As long as there as math tests there will be prayer in school.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RunSilent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@RunSilent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RunSilent)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/45 "2009-11-19T12:49:31Z")
I attended public elementary schools in the 1950’s in suburban Baltimore. Depending on the teacher, we either recited the Lord’s Prayer every morning, or a student was chosen (required, actually) to read a passage from the Bible. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/46 "2009-11-19T13:00:30Z")
> [@Siege](#): > > I went to school in Pennsylvania in the 1970s and early 80s and, while we had a moment of silence, I don’t remember ever being obligated to pray in school. Same time, location and experience. There was an optional “Baccalaureate” event on graduation day which had praying but the actual graduation ceremony (with the handing out of diplomas, etc) was separate and had no prayer involved. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/47 "2009-11-19T13:03:30Z")
We might have had a short prayer before graduation, but I’m not even sure about that as we had a special service the day of graduation. That wasn’t required though. So other then the one time that we might have had one I don’t remember one. We only ever had our moment of silence when something happened. This was Maryland in the late 70s-91. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/48 "2009-11-19T13:58:38Z")
I picked _Yes, but only very rarely_ because there were occasional Invocations before Graduations & other special events. Nobody really checked if you were praying along. On occasion, they said the “Our Father” with some extra stuff tacked on the end; so I made a point of crossing myself. In primary grades, we began the day with the Pledgallience & “Our Country 'tis of Thee.” No prayers at all. No regular prayers or Bible quoting ever in all my years of public school. High school class of '66 in semi-rural (now suburban) Texas. ---
**Author:** ![happycamper\_5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cab0a1/32.png) [@happycamper\_5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happycamper_5)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/49 "2009-11-19T14:14:00Z")
Rural Oklahoma in the 80s and there was quite a bit of prayer and/or religion. After we’d lined up for lunch in elementary school, we all had to bow our heads as the teacher lead us in prayer. During the junior high years, a teacher would read the daily prayer from the Oklahoman to us everyday and we were expected to silently follow along with her. At the same time, the girls’ basketball coach/geography teacher loved to give Bible-related bonus questions on his exams. He proudly told us that, while he wasn’t allowed to make the questions a requirement, he could put them on the tests as electives and there was nothing the state could do about it. I’m not sure the state would have been happy with him using class time to teach us the “right” answers to those questions, though. I remember one was “Who parted the Red Sea?” The correct answer was not Moses, but rather “God, through Moses” because, as he insisted, “Moses was just a man and could only do what God gave him the power to do.” We also sang religious songs at school assemblies and had plenty of religious imagery up for the holidays. I still shudder at the memory of having to stand up in front of the entire school and sing El Shaddai. Suffice to say, I voted ‘Yes, regularly and no one objected.’ ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/50 "2009-11-19T14:20:41Z")
In a small town in TN ('60s), I was subjected to having to pray in school, I picked people frequently objected, but really I was the only people. When I outright refused I was sent home where I was beaten pretty good, so I just took to mumbling with head bowed. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/51 "2009-11-19T14:37:06Z")
> [@RomanMachine](#): > > We also sang religious songs at school assemblies and had plenty of religious imagery up for the holidays. I still shudder at the memory of having to stand up in front of the entire school and sing El Shaddai. Oh! I forgot about singing. I was in the elementary school choir and it wasn’t at all unusual to have traditional or seasonal religious songs in there. I remember learning “All things bright and beautiful,” which I really liked. I can’t recall anything like that in high school–I think the closest we got was Bette Midler songs like “From a distance” and “The rose.” (gag) ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/52 "2009-11-19T14:59:55Z")
Elementary school, Midwest, 1980s, early '90s. We didn’t pray frequently, but I’d say there were definitely religious overtones. In the first grade we put on a Nativity play, and about once a year or so, a local church group would come in and pass out Bibles. Also I can remember going on a class camping trip in sixth grade and having to say a prayer at dinner. Nobody objected, or if they did were very quiet about it. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/53 "2009-11-19T15:09:46Z")
I grew up in a small town in Alabama. I remember public praying at sporting events and ceremonies, but not in the classroom. And all you had to do during public praying was be respectfully quiet. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/54 "2009-11-19T15:40:56Z")
I attended Florida high schools from '96-'99. Don’t remember ever being required to pray. Actually, come to think of it, I don’t recall anyone praying within earshot. There was an invocation at the graduation ceremony given by a Protestant minister of some sort. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/55 "2009-11-19T15:54:48Z")
Suburban Illinois, 70s - 80s, public schools. I guess we did the Pledge of Allegiance in middle school, though I don’t remember very well. Many of us blew it off, and nobody said anything. One friend of mine made a point of refusing to say the Pledge of Allegiance, and when the teacher caller her on it, she pointed out that she was a British citizen, not a U.S. citizen, so she was not going to pledge allegiance to the American flag. The teacher couldn’t really find a way to argue with that, so left her alone from then on. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/56 "2009-11-19T15:56:02Z")
Never. Not a word about prayer or God at any ceremony I can remember, nothing at graduation. I never attended any sporting events so I don’t know about that but I doubt it. Went to high school on Long Island, 1996-2000. > [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > When the Supremes decided forcing school kids to pray in US public schools was unconstitutional, Leading to their next big hit, “Stop in the Name of Schempp.” ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/57 "2009-11-19T16:05:31Z")
Class of 2003, northern Idaho. No prayer in class but it popped up at events and graduation, never by a priest and it was always a low-key, join in if you want kind of vibe. I grew up in a non-religious household so I was always more interested than offended. Some folks didn’t like it but no one protested. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/58 "2009-11-19T16:12:00Z")
Detroit Public Schools late 70s, elementary school: There was a 5 minute period every morning where we recited the pledge (under God vs.) followed by a short prayer/chant that I no longer remember other than it rhymed. We then sang the National Anthem followed by “America” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing\*” Middle and High School in Oakland, CA: No prayers, no pledge, and no singing that I remember, although there may have been a prayer at my HS graduation. I didn’t walk so I don’t know if it actually happened. \*Used to be know as the Black National Anthem in case you’re unfamiliar with the title. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/59 "2009-11-19T16:24:02Z")
No, never, however I screwed up the poll question, my answer should only read no, but I fat-fingered the last 3 choices on my iPhone (should’ve zoomed in, D’oh!) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077/60 "2009-11-19T16:31:59Z")
Heh. Not at Montessori. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dopers-were-you-ever-obliged-to-pray-in-public-schools/518077.md?page=4)