A couple of teachers I know are having to deal with a new principal that doesn't agree with them on anything. My sister, being one of the teachers, has been dealing with a very sensitive issue dealing with prayer in school. Here's the basic situation, what do you think is the right thing to do?...Before lunch everyday the class lines up in the hallway and has a quick moment of silence. One day, a little boy asked to say the blessing before they went to lunch, so my sister asked that everyone be quiet and respectful. As he started to pray, the principal walked by. A few days later a memo came out raving about NO prayer in school...Can students initiate prayer, or not???

Unfortunately, in schools the teachers cannot initiate forced silence for religious observance. BUT.......there are ways to get around this. One is instead of the hallway line up with the prayer, in the lunch room, tell students that if they wish to say prayer for their food they can do so at their seat and to themselves. Teachers can model this and usually others watch and soon it becomes more an impact on thegroup. Also, before school bible study clubs are springing up across the nation at the elementary, middle, and high school level. If a teacher wants to sponsor one she can....attendance is voluntary. Bible Clubs are part of the regular school club groups with enough parents and student signatures to start the first one in the system. Once established in the system (check the other schools) it is green light for all schools.

This is wrong, because it forces students to participate in something they may not believe in.
Parents who do not want to raise their kids in a religious background understandably do not want their kids to be praying in schools.

Keep in mind that it is impossible to ban praying in schools.. if a child/student wants to pray, then they can do so silently by themselves.
But as far as leading a group in prayer, that is definitly a no no and is unnecessary, in my opinion. I believe the prinicipal was right in stopping it.


p.s. - does anyone know why this penguin dude is showing up above some of our avatars?

I don't think that the little boy should have been able to say it with the whole class lined up and not able to leave. The children who did not agree with saying a prayer were still forced to stand there and listen to it. I do think that it would have been ok if the little boy did it with others who wanted to say a prayer.

I'm from a very religious town. In my school we prayed before sporting events and even at graduation. At the high school the principal even allowed preachers to come once a week during homeroom to have a devotion over the loud speakers and there was a prayer at the end. You weren't made to listen to it, but you still had to be respectful.

During these times of prayer teachers weren't allowed to be over them. It had to be run by students. Even with See You At the Pole students were the only ones allowed to read scripture and pray. Teachers could come to oversee everything, but it was mainly run by students.

I think prayer in schools is up to the school system. In some towns it may be OK and others it may not be.

I don't see anything wrong with voluntary participation, yet it is a very touchy issue. Our FCA met before school on school grounds but still had to be student led, once a month we had off campus meetings at a teachers home which were usually led by a teacher or other adult. We had prayer before football games, in fact the team recited in unison. I also see it from the other side: How would you feel if at different times during the day students got on the floor and turned and prayed toward Mecca?

The overall issue is respect and tolerance, better yet acceptance of others and their religion.

I think David said it exactly: respect and tolerance. This country was founded on rights of the people and freedom of religious choice was one the those rights. While I would love to teach the Bible to my students, I understand the only way to teach it in a public school would require that I teach all other religous texts as well. I do not think the public school system is currently showing much respect or tolerance to any religion.

I grew up without organized religion (although I attended church at various times with friends) and I can clearly remember standing in the huddle with my soccer team saying the pre-game prayer, led by the coach. For me, it was something between an extra few moments before the game and an annoyance. But I was used to it, having grown up in the South. I knew it was coming. We used to say a prayer every single day before lunch at my elementary school. I said it right along with everyone else before I even knew what it meant to be saying it. I can remember saying that prayer before I even knew what all the words were, when I was really young I was just emulating the sounds I heard in order to conform. Later on I was certainly more aware of what I was saying and sometime in mid-elementary school I think I stopped saying it with everyone. As I said, I grew up without organized religion and for me it just a meaningless ritual before getting to the lunchroom, but what if I had been Muslim or Hindu or Jewish? Why must we insist on these prayers being done outloud, led by someone at the head of the class in a public school? If God speaks to all of us, surely we can be heard without an institutionalized prayer meeting paid for by taxpayers.

This morning in class we had a class discussion about prayer in school. I told my professor that everyday before lunch, the teacher says that they are going to say the blessing. Those who do not want to say it can stand quietly. They say it as a group. My professor then told me that that was illegal. A teacher cannot intiate any kind of prayer. She even included that you are really not supposed to have moment of silence. Technically a child can only say a prayer to himself.

In my opinon that is awful that a principal would stop a child from praying. Dosent the child have the same right to pray as the one who dosent? or do we just overlook that? I feel that your sister did the right thing in allowing a moment of silence and i would have probably done the same thing. That did force any child to pray but it gave the ones that did the opportunity to. I dont feel that it would be wrong to do that at all and applaude your sister for doing so

I think that the child should have been able to pray but not in front of the whole class. He could have prayed silently during the moment of silence. I can understand why the principal sent out a memo. The other children would forced to participate in this religious activity. The principal was just looking out for the well being of the rest of the class and the school environment. Your sister was very creative when she decided to give her class a moment of silence so that they could pray before lunch. That was a great idea on her part.

Observing moments of silence to be thankful and appreciative, I can understand but once you attach a particular religious conotation to that moment of silence, it infringes on the religious beliefs of other students who may not subcribe to that particular religion.

the principal never did that. you can't stop anybody from praying. i'm a christian and when i pray, i do it silently - just between me and God.
moments of silence and teacher-led prayer is unnecessary. this is school, not church.

I don't see anything wrong with voluntary prayer in schools because children do have the right to pray no matter where they are. Its a touchy issue in schools, so as a teacher you should initiate prayer, or have everyone do it, but it is ok to tell your students that if they want to pray before they go eat at lunch that it was fine and if they don't want to pray they don't have to. As long as the teacher makes it clear that they can pray if they want to or not, then it should be fine. I think prayer is very important, but as a teacher I have to be careful of what I say because of the law, but that doesn't mean I or the children can't pray if we want to because we can as long as we don't make anyone pray that don't want to. Children do have the right to prayer and that right shouldn't be taken away from them.