How will banning prayer in schools help advance society in any way?

Question

How will it do any good?

Answer 1

Individuals have the right to pray at school.  What is not allowed is prayer organized by the school (which would be government sanctioned religion).

And for the record, organized prayer in school has been banned since the '60s.

Answer 2

Well having it surely doesn't seem to help in any way; but, let's try the opposite...  At least we will then have religious freedom and not be forcing people to pray to a God they do not believe it.

And no one is stopping you or anyone else from praying.  Just not at that time publicly.  You can pray privately anytime, anyplace.  No way we can stop you.

Answer 3

Prayer is not banned in school.  The only regulation is against the school itself mandating or leading the praying.  In fact, U.S. public school students do pray every school day, with their hands over their hearts.

Answer 4

I think you should be aware that the only thing we liberals are after is making sure that there is no school-sponsored or teacher-led prayer in classrooms -- nothing that will alienate those who do not wish to pray. Do you know that it is legal for students to pray in school on their own time?

Not having mandated school prayer helps advance society because it teaches the principle of religion being a personal thing.

And by the way, our Constitution DOES state that there shall be no law supporting the establishment of one religion over another, or the establishment of religion over non-religion. The only way to make this happen -- to not establish one religion over another (unless, of course, you want to be open to Satanic prayers, Wiccan prayers, Hindu prayers, and others alongside Christian prayers) -- is to leave it out of school altogether.

So, in truth, keeping prayer out of school protects believers AND non-believers alike.

Answer 5

Banning mandatory praters in public schools is in keeping with the separation clause of the US constitution.

As long as it has "under God" in it, the pledge is a prayer.

Answer 6

it wont do any good.  thats what happens when government gets involved with society.  most demos want nothing to do with the bible and at the same time believe in more government control.  we have to keep them out of office.  just wait and see what happens if obama gets elected.  talk about a turn for the worse.

Answer 7

How will keeping it in schools help advance society? School is not church.

How about taking responsibility as a PARENT to teach prayer and values in the home?

Answer 8

I don't think anyone except the extreme left wingers want to flat out ban students from praying on their own, it's the mandatory classroom prayers that most people, including me, have a problem with. Not because it promotes religion, but because it promotes one religion in particular (probably Christianity).

Answer 9

how will enforcing prayer in school help advance society in any way?

Answer 10

Anyone who has ever taken a calculus test will tell you there will always be prayers, at least silent ones, private ones, said in school.

Answer 11

I don't know of any movement to ban students outright from praying if they choose (I'd love to see somebody try to keep me from praying if I feel like it).

It is mandatory prayers and/or the mandatory recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance that cause some civil libertarians to protest, myself among them.

Why?  And how do I think it helps advance society?  I believe that mandatory rote repetition does very little to instill actual values in people, and that the codes we develop by observing ourselves and others are what ultimately build good character.  Anything you repeat every day by rote becomes pretty meaningless if you say it because because you are required to recite it, but you don't  truly believe it.

If we want kids to believe in and respect the pledge of allegiance, we would do well to explore in depth precisely what "Liberty and justice for all" actually means, not quibbling about whether or not it contains a reference to the deity.  

It's the same with prayer--our own prayers are what is truly heartfelt, and sometimes nonverbal. Those are impossible to ban.  I wouldn't worry about the rest.

Anybody who is offended by prayers at football games, or at school assemblies/graduations, or so forth, has the right to stick his fingers in his ears and say (silently) "lalalala i can't hear you" if he wishes.