This paper was written for my Writing 209 class. For the assignment ,Donna Marsh, asked us to find an article in a periodical that dealt with an issue in our American culture. We were then told to express our opinion on the topic discussed in the article and to analyze the argument presented in the article. I chose the topic of school prayer because I believe strongly in the separation of church and state that exists in our country. This is a controversial issue that is worthy of discussion, and hopefully my essay will provoke you in some manner whether you agree with my premise or feel that the views I express are totally invalid.
In the presidential election of 1992 between George Bush and Bill Clinton, the topic of family values became one of the most controversial issues of the campaign. Vice President Dan Quayle emphasized this issue the most, with his frequent tirades on the subject including his criticism of the television character Murphy Brown. Once this issue reached the spotlight, the more conservative members of the Republican party religious right" delivered speeches calling for the nation to return to instilling "traditional values" in our children. One of the reforms that they called for was the legalization of a daily prayer in our public school system. They claimed that this would be a key first step in reinstituting the essential family values in our children. They called for a change in our laws which have forbidden prayer in schools. These laws have been upheld because courts have asserted that they violate the separation of church and state that is assured in our Constitution.
Following this call for a new religious crusade many articles and editorials appeared calling for new legislation which would allow prayer in public schools. Polls were released which indicated that a large percentage of Americans favored new legislation on this subject, and more than one half of those surveyed claimed that they would be more likely to vote for a candidate in a national election who supported prayer in public schools. One has to question the intensity of this support because Bill Clinton (not a supporter of bringing religion into public schools) defeated George Bush (a supporter of school prayer) in the 1992 presidential election. Those who voiced their support for school prayer felt that it would strengthen the moral values of young children as they went through school.
Those who want a change in the system claim that prayer in schools will instill family values that have been lacking in recent generations of school aged children. They feel that the Supreme Court, which has consistently overturned any legislation providing for school prayer is not in touch with the interests of the average American. They claim that our society's values will continue to erode if we do not change our present thinking in the near future. They cite the Bible as a higher law and that it should be taught in public schools.
However, when looking at the quotations of average Americans who support this change it is easy to dissect their thoughts and see that much of what they claim will be positive changes for our country will actually be damaging to our school aged children and in violation of the principles listed in the Constitution. Below I have listed quotations from supporters of school prayer, and my analysis of their validity (or lack thereof). These quotations appeared in an article in Reader's Digest which praised this surge in support for school prayer, and are heartfelt statements in support of the position that prayer should be introduced in schools. However, each illustrates what is inherently wrong with the pro-school prayer position.
The concept of allowing children to choose whether or not to participate and then allowing them to sit quietly if they don't want to join in segregates children at an early age. Young children are probably not well versed in religion, and therefore are not in a position to choose if they really want to participate. Those who do not partake in the activity will in all likelihood be outcast by their fellow students. This will especially hold true if the students are not part of Judeo-Christian belief system which is so prevalent in our society. We live in a society that needs to focus our children on the common bonds that we share at an early age. School prayer only focuses on our differences and not the common ties that we share. Racial and ethnic differences already divide the youth of our nation at an early age. Adding prayer to the schools would transform religion from a minor difference among elementary age students to a major factor in social segregation during those formative times. It is quite clear that a young Muslim student who wanted to engage in prayer or a Jewish boy who wanted to wear a yarmulke would be ridiculed by their classmates due to the fact that their religious practices would be different from those of the majority of their classmates. Also the notion that those who disapprove of this activity should merely "sit quietly and respectfully" goes against our nation's principle of individuals voicing their dissenting opinion when they feel that an injustice is being perpetuated.
This quotation stressing that all religions should be treated equally in schools is also problematic. In a public school many various religious groups may be represented and to have a different artistic display representing the religion, or a discussion of all religions would be far too time consuming and also even more confusing to impressionable young students. It is unreasonable to expect teachers to have knowledge of the religious affiliation of every student that enrolls in their class, and then plan appropriate activities to accommodate all faiths. Religious instruction in public schools may also lead atheist children to believe that a religious moral code is superior to any morals that they may have been taught at home. Once again this problem of the differences between religions can best be solved from religious instruction at the home level where parents can monitor what their children are taught about religion, rather than at the school level where religion will in all likelihood be dealt with by a school board who sets the curriculum for a particular district.
This final quotation is the most troublesome, and it is representative of the faction in our society who believe that religion is an essential part of a child's education. It goes against the basic principles of our nation to state that children should be trained religiously in our schools. and that this should be accomplished at school because it is not done in the home. This violates the basic premise of our founding fathers regarding religion. It is clear in the Constitution that religion in our nation was intended to be a private choice for each person and family to decide if they want to practice religion, and if they chose to which religion to follow.
If children are not exposed to religion in their home it is probably because their parents have decided not to teach the child religion. This does not mean that these children will grow up without a moral code, nor does it mean that religious teaching should be left up to schools where children will be subject to ideas that may in direct conflict with the teachings of their parents. The article that prompted this response on my part implicitly utilizes the assumption that those parents who don't support prayer in schools are somehow not doing a sufficient job in bringing up their children with moral values. This leads to a striking polarity where those who support prayer in public schools are portrayed as "good moral people" and those who oppose it are "bad people" in our society. This is powerful rhetoric, and it may make many parents feel that they will be labeled "bad parents" if they do not support school prayer initiatives.
I was personally subjected to this debate at a young age. When I was in the fourth grade our school had a moment of silence every day before school work began. My teacher informed us that its purpose was for silent thinking and prayer. While many of my classmates were obviously deeply engaged in prayer during this period I always found myself confused about what to do during this time. I had been raised in a Jewish house, but it just didn't seem appropriate to me to begin the rituals that would normally be performed at a synagogue. I just spent this time sitting idly waiting for the minute to end so the day could begin. The moment definitely served to make me feel different from my classmates, and it certainly wasn't very spiritual and quite a bit hurtful to me because I could see that it had significance to my friends, and thus I felt alienated from them.
It is probably not coincidental that this increased call for prayer in our public school system comes at a time when religious affiliation is dropping sharply in our country. This is a trend that is sure to continue into the next century with each generation shunning old religious customs a little more than their parents did. Thus this battle (actually more like a jihad) to put prayer back in schools is almost a last crusade by the religious right to prevent religion from becoming swallowed up in our modern society.
The initial article was accompanied by one written by William Bennett formerly the Secretary of Education. In his essay he describes his efforts to bring about prayer in public schools. He claims that he was referred to as an "ayatollah" when he wanted to support school prayer programs. The general feeling of the supporters of school prayer movements is that they are being attacked by the cultural elite who want to maintain our current separation of schooling and religion. Bennett's article then prominently flaunts a statistic that more than half of Americans are more likely to support a candidate who is in favor of school prayer. However, as I mentioned at the beginning of this essay, if this was really a defining issue in the campaign, why are the executive and legislative branches of our government controlled by parties that do not support this movement? One gets the impression that with the other pressing economic and social issues in our countrythat people's opinions on this issue are not concrete nor an essential part of their political ideology.
In our modern society technology is an integral part of our daily existence. It has replaced religion as the source of people's wonder and attention. In areas where people once turned to religion as an answer to the problems of daily life they now turn to science. The importance of religion as a central influence in the lives of citizens of our nation has been decreasing steadily as our technological and scientific breakthroughs increase. In most of these scenarios there is typically a sect of people who refuse to adapt as our world becomes more scientific and complex. There are still those who still shun modern medicine and turn to faith healing, and there were those who fought hard to try to prevent the theories of Darwin from being taught in schools. The proponents of this plan to bring religion to schools are trying to utilize this as an opportunity to spread their viewpoint before it becomes even more diminished and archaic in the national view.
I consider myself to be conservative on most of the social and economic issues that face our country. On this issue of prayer in public schools I cannot side with the political right and feel that their position on this issue violates the basic freedoms that we have as American citizens. Now that Bill Clinton is in the White House hopefully he will send out a message that school prayer is not the only way for our nation to teach our children positive moral values. Moral values should be taught in the home by parents no matter what the structure of the family may be. Contrary to Dan Quayle's belief, single mothers and fathers can do an exceptional job in teaching their children strong moral values, and having a two parent family structure can only enhance the moral teachings. Prayer in our nation's public schools is not the answer to the problem of how to teach our children morals, and it would certainly be detrimental to the future of our society.