Poll: School District about to Get Sued

[FoolKiller]

I have a question, if you really don't care what people believe, then why do you care if they pray, I mean how will that affect you in anyway?

I think the objection is that part of a paid ceremony is excluding those that aren't religious. I have no objection to religious people but I don't want it read during my graduation ceremony any more than I want them to give me a valedictory during someone's confirmation.

 

[Kadoodle]

It's okay to pray in school. It is not, however, okay to have the administration lead a prayer.

 

[Chaos Inverse]

I think the question is more, should prayer be advocated by the school? It's fine if you pray in school, as long as it doesn't affect others. If you want to take a knee in the hall or caf, go for it.

 

[William MacKay]

when i came to high school (i live in scotland btw) we were all given Gideon Bibles. they didnt ask if we were Christian, atheist, Jews, Muslims or whatever. we just got one. and in primary school we were all taken to church at christmas. One of my friends asked his dad to ask the school not to take him because he doesnt like going to churches. i dont mind it, but dont force it on people. and if you get a minister in at christmas/easter (like my school) and force every year group to attend you should do one of two things:
have other religious leaders come in on their holidays (it imams on ramadan, rabbis on yom kippur etc)
or let people either go to class or at least wait somewhere else with the others who dont believe in that religion.
because sixth years generally skive for the whole service.
if someone wants to pray in school, let them. just dont force people to pray if they dont want to.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

I'd say it's ok if people in the school want to have a big group prayer, but it should be perfectly acceptable for people to sit out. Saying that no-one should pray is just as bad as saying everyone should.

But its a christian prayer. Its taking one religion and forcing everyone else to take part of be left out. In all these stories imagine how people would feel if you replace christian with muslim or flying spaggetti monster pirate. If they would feel different then you cant do it. Equality. For all. No one gets prayers from anyone elses religion is easier than sharing it all around.

SNIP

If they are allowed to lead in a Christian prayer i DEMAND the same right to lead in a flying spagghetti/muslim prayer right after. That's equality and we shouldn't hear any complaints. Would we? Damn right we would. And that's why its wrong. These people are hypocrites. As i said above no prayer is the easiest option. I think its sick one religion is given special rights over any over, especially to be school sanctioned as led in a prayer, i mean if ya wanna do your own thing? Go ahead, seriously. Thats fine. If the school wants to make everyone do it and alienate you? Not cool . If it was a Muslim prayer? Outrage. Pure outrage. "INDOCTRINATION!" one man ignorantly yells. "CORRUPTION" a blinded hypocrite screams. Nothing wrong with Christianity. Something wrong with assuming it gets special privileges.

In the words of Scout in to kill a mocking bird "America, equal rights for all special privileges for none"

We all get the same. America has proved over and over it cant handle other religions getting the same special powers as Christianity, especially atheism, so its safer to give no one those rights than to give everyone those rights.

 

[ThisIsSnake]

I thought the religious had that superpower that lets them pray in their heads so they don't bother everyone else with their schizophrenia.

Separation of Church and State and every Bible also state that prayer shouldn't be public =\

 

[Bobic]

I'd say it's ok if people in the school want to have a big group prayer, but it should be perfectly acceptable for people to sit out. Saying that no-one should pray is just as bad as saying everyone should.

But its a christian prayer. Its taking one religion and forcing everyone else to take part of be left out. In all these stories imagine how people would feel if you replace christian with muslim or flying spaggetti monster pirate. If they would feel different then you cant do it. Equality. For all. No one gets prayers from anyone elses religion.

Why does which religion it is matter? Also, how about the equality of you all get to pray to whatever the hell you want? And if you're afraid of being left out I'd say you're just being overly sensitive and should man up. My primary school did prayers at the end of morning assemblies, I'm not religious and I was fine with it. If I can deal with it as a ten year old this guy should be able to deal with it as an adult.

 

[beniki]

Sad. A waste of time and money. All on the emotions of a single hormonal teenager, who considers his own feelings to be of greater importance than the people around him.

This, is only sad.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

I'd say it's ok if people in the school want to have a big group prayer, but it should be perfectly acceptable for people to sit out. Saying that no-one should pray is just as bad as saying everyone should.

But its a christian prayer. Its taking one religion and forcing everyone else to take part of be left out. In all these stories imagine how people would feel if you replace christian with muslim or flying spaggetti monster pirate. If they would feel different then you cant do it. Equality. For all. No one gets prayers from anyone elses religion.

Why does which religion it is matter? Also, how about the equality of you all get to pray to whatever the hell you want? And if you're afraid of being left out I'd say you're just being overly sensitive and should man up. My primary school did prayers at the end of morning assemblies, I'm not religious and I was fine with it. If I can deal with it as a ten year old this guy should be able to deal with it as an adult.

Because imagine if i stood at the front and asked to lead everyone in a different prayer. Id be met with hostility. I dont think people will be indoctrinated or it hurts anyone, it just isnt fair to give any one religion special rights to be broadcast over another. Its why they cant teach creationism in school. The arguement that worked was, if you teach one you have to cover them all. I dont mean prayer in school, i mean prayer LED and SANCTIONED by the entire school together. I dont think its fair that only a single group is thought of at all and the rest can just suck it up, it isnt very American. To be honest im not really arguing for this case, it was a video in the link that showed a girl talk for 3 mins about Jesus and God to the school and go on and on about christian relationships and how its down to God everyone did so well. A lot of the school clapped and cheered and the teachers loved it. It was kinda disturbing. I mean she rambled about it for a long time.

 

[lord canti]

Damn people will give money and scholarships to anyone for anything nowadays won't day?

 

[Merkavar]

I'd say it's ok if people in the school want to have a big group prayer, but it should be perfectly acceptable for people to sit out. Saying that no-one should pray is just as bad as saying everyone should.

i think its all about not having a government sponsored religion. say the school has a big prayer group and people can sit out, who or what does the school pray to? god? which god, christian god, jewish god, muslim god?

i think it is just easier to remove religion from schools and government places. cause if they allow one religion to pray then they are discriminating against other or at the very least promoting one religion. so to avoid that you can either have no religion or all religions and all religions seems a little over the top.

i think the private contemplation is a decent middle ground. no one up on stage leading a prayer. just 5 mins for people to sit and pray to what ever in their minds. no group amens or christs be with you. also no reason for athiests or other religions to be offended or feel a need to excuse them selves cause they can quietly thank their own god or their family and friends etc.

 

[Trivun]

I know that it's different a bit for me since I'm from the UK, but my old school was a non-religious school (and indeed we had a sizeable number of Muslims and Sikhs in the lower years when I left). Nevertheless, we had a formal group prayer every morning during our school assembly. There was no problem if kids didn't join in, one of my best friends was a staunch atheist, whereas I'm Christian (non-practicing though). I'd join the prayer, my friend wouldn't, and a lot of the non-Christian kids wouldn't join in either. But the teachers were fine with that, and the school was especially tolerant of all races and religions.

Therefore, from my own personal experience, I'd say it's down to the school itself if they want to include prayer, but they shouldn't be allowed to force it on everyone. If a school wants to include prayer in assemblies or whatever then nobody should have the right to prevent them from doing so. So I disagree with most posters so far. Nevertheless, if someone decides they don't want to join the prayer, they shouldn't be forced to either. Tolerance works both ways.

 

[Bobic]

I'd say it's ok if people in the school want to have a big group prayer, but it should be perfectly acceptable for people to sit out. Saying that no-one should pray is just as bad as saying everyone should.

But its a christian prayer. Its taking one religion and forcing everyone else to take part of be left out. In all these stories imagine how people would feel if you replace christian with muslim or flying spaggetti monster pirate. If they would feel different then you cant do it. Equality. For all. No one gets prayers from anyone elses religion.

Why does which religion it is matter? Also, how about the equality of you all get to pray to whatever the hell you want? And if you're afraid of being left out I'd say you're just being overly sensitive and should man up. My primary school did prayers at the end of morning assemblies, I'm not religious and I was fine with it. If I can deal with it as a ten year old this guy should be able to deal with it as an adult.

Because imagine if i stood at the front and asked to lead everyone in a different prayer. Id be met with hostility. I dont think people will be indoctrinated or it hurts anyone, it just isnt fair to give any one religion special rights to be broadcast over another. Its why they cant teach creationism in school. The arguement that worked was, if you teach one you have to cover them all. I dont mean prayer in school, i mean prayer LED and SANCTIONED by the entire school together. I dont think its fair that only a single group is thought of at all and the rest can just suck it up, it isnt very American. To be honest im not really arguing for this case, it was a video in the link that showed a girl talk for 3 mins about Jesus and God to the school and go on and on about christian relationships and how its down to God everyone did so well. A lot of the school clapped and cheered and the teachers loved it. It was kinda disturbing. I mean she rambled about it for a long time.

Actually I don't think you would be met with hostility if you tried to lead a prayer for the muslim population of your school. And if you are, damn boy, change schools. You're going to school with a bunch of racist asshats.

 

[Aj Byrne]

I remember one day I walked out of school on every corner was a man with a box of pocket new testaments. Mind you the town I live in is 60% Jewish and roughly 10% Christian. The school itself was 75% percent Jewish and very few Christians, the rest were Atheists or Muslim. I remember feeling kind of disgusted at the Gideons because they knew there were alot of Jewish kids, some who were probably still impressionable or unfaithful enough to convert.
The response was not so good though. Younger kids who didn't know any better threw them on the ground, others thought people were dumb enough to buy them, others just burned the books while laughing hysterically.
The moral is it ALWAYS gets ugly when school and church are mixed

 

[NotSoNimble]

I'd say it's ok if people in the school want to have a big group prayer, but it should be perfectly acceptable for people to sit out. Saying that no-one should pray is just as bad as saying everyone should.

But its a christian prayer. Its taking one religion and forcing everyone else to take part of be left out. In all these stories imagine how people would feel if you replace christian with muslim or flying spaggetti monster pirate. If they would feel different then you cant do it. Equality. For all. No one gets prayers from anyone elses religion.

Why does which religion it is matter? Also, how about the equality of you all get to pray to whatever the hell you want? And if you're afraid of being left out I'd say you're just being overly sensitive and should man up. My primary school did prayers at the end of morning assemblies, I'm not religious and I was fine with it. If I can deal with it as a ten year old this guy should be able to deal with it as an adult.

It sounds like a lot of people are afraid of others praying. They make it sound like it's some sort of mind control.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

I'd say it's ok if people in the school want to have a big group prayer, but it should be perfectly acceptable for people to sit out. Saying that no-one should pray is just as bad as saying everyone should.

But its a christian prayer. Its taking one religion and forcing everyone else to take part of be left out. In all these stories imagine how people would feel if you replace christian with muslim or flying spaggetti monster pirate. If they would feel different then you cant do it. Equality. For all. No one gets prayers from anyone elses religion.

Why does which religion it is matter? Also, how about the equality of you all get to pray to whatever the hell you want? And if you're afraid of being left out I'd say you're just being overly sensitive and should man up. My primary school did prayers at the end of morning assemblies, I'm not religious and I was fine with it. If I can deal with it as a ten year old this guy should be able to deal with it as an adult.

Because imagine if i stood at the front and asked to lead everyone in a different prayer. Id be met with hostility. I dont think people will be indoctrinated or it hurts anyone, it just isnt fair to give any one religion special rights to be broadcast over another. Its why they cant teach creationism in school. The arguement that worked was, if you teach one you have to cover them all. I dont mean prayer in school, i mean prayer LED and SANCTIONED by the entire school together. I dont think its fair that only a single group is thought of at all and the rest can just suck it up, it isnt very American. To be honest im not really arguing for this case, it was a video in the link that showed a girl talk for 3 mins about Jesus and God to the school and go on and on about christian relationships and how its down to God everyone did so well. A lot of the school clapped and cheered and the teachers loved it. It was kinda disturbing. I mean she rambled about it for a long time.

Actually I don't think you would be met with hostility if you tried to lead a prayer for the muslim population of your school. And if you are, damn boy, change schools. You're going to school with a bunch of racist asshats.

Who said Muslim population? I mean everyone. And everyone who doesnt want to can sit out or shut up and suck it up. To be honest my kinda forward thinking school here in the UK wouldnt be hostile so much as confused. We never do prayer here. Ever. Try it in the bible belt though. I dare you. Or in fact any 10 schools in the USA. This isnt me being sarcastic. I actually would like to see the general reaction.

 

[Merkavar]

Prayer has no place in a secular society.

It's fine to believe what you want and to pray in your own time. But you should not use a public function that has nothing to do with the religion as a forum to spread your beliefs.

also isnt church enough time to spread the message. i dont see why schools need to help the church promote its wares.

as far as im aware my local church has mass many times a day. i dont see why a school needs to waste time and money promoting a religion when the church has buildings, money and people power of its own and going off my local church is open longer than schools for convinence of its customers.

 

[Vilcus]

Honestly, just let everyone celebrate whatever they want in school. I'd prefer it if everyone of different religions simply got to celebrate their respective holidays on those days. I dunno, this whole oppressing religion thing is just stupid to begin with, it doesn't hurt me if you celebrate Kwanzaa, and I celebrate Christmas (which is a pagan ritual anyways, so that's irrelevant), my head won't magically explode when I see someone practicing their religion at school.

I'm not religious by any stretch of the imagination, but I do have beliefs, and last I checked, oppressing people's beliefs was against their rights as human beings.

 

[dystopiaINC]

sigh, i hate this shit. people seem to always think it's the religious that are forcing their views on others, but what about the other way around? i'm not saying it doesn't happen but i just want people to drop the subject entirely. i'm tired things like this where a small group or individual gets offended and then does something that ruins the experience for others. i really don't want to restrict anybody here i just want to be left alone and free to believe what i wish. you have no idea how many times i've had atheists call me stupid, foolish, blind, ignorant, dumb, or retarded for believing in a religion, to my face. i'm freaking 18 and i'm already tired of religion and politics debates. the problem here is we are all human, we're all going to be different and you will never get everybody to agree to the same thing. thats why we vote, i know in this situation the brat is right, i don't care much about this situation really. i just hate how America is trying to please everybody it's not going to work.

 

[Bobic]

I'd say it's ok if people in the school want to have a big group prayer, but it should be perfectly acceptable for people to sit out. Saying that no-one should pray is just as bad as saying everyone should.

But its a christian prayer. Its taking one religion and forcing everyone else to take part of be left out. In all these stories imagine how people would feel if you replace christian with muslim or flying spaggetti monster pirate. If they would feel different then you cant do it. Equality. For all. No one gets prayers from anyone elses religion.

Why does which religion it is matter? Also, how about the equality of you all get to pray to whatever the hell you want? And if you're afraid of being left out I'd say you're just being overly sensitive and should man up. My primary school did prayers at the end of morning assemblies, I'm not religious and I was fine with it. If I can deal with it as a ten year old this guy should be able to deal with it as an adult.

Because imagine if i stood at the front and asked to lead everyone in a different prayer. Id be met with hostility. I dont think people will be indoctrinated or it hurts anyone, it just isnt fair to give any one religion special rights to be broadcast over another. Its why they cant teach creationism in school. The arguement that worked was, if you teach one you have to cover them all. I dont mean prayer in school, i mean prayer LED and SANCTIONED by the entire school together. I dont think its fair that only a single group is thought of at all and the rest can just suck it up, it isnt very American. To be honest im not really arguing for this case, it was a video in the link that showed a girl talk for 3 mins about Jesus and God to the school and go on and on about christian relationships and how its down to God everyone did so well. A lot of the school clapped and cheered and the teachers loved it. It was kinda disturbing. I mean she rambled about it for a long time.

Actually I don't think you would be met with hostility if you tried to lead a prayer for the muslim population of your school. And if you are, damn boy, change schools. You're going to school with a bunch of racist asshats.

Who said Muslim population? I mean everyone. And everyone who doesnt want to can sit out or shut up and suck it up. To be honest my kinda forward thinking school here in the UK wouldnt be hostile so much as confused. We never do prayer here. Ever. Try it in the bible belt though. I dare you. Or in fact any 10 schools in the USA. This isnt me being sarcastic. I actually would like to see the general reaction.

I was using Muslim as an example, listing every religion would have taken too long.

Also, wasn't the whole people should just suck it up thing my point 3 quotes ago? We're in danger of agreeing here.

And I doubt America is as bad as you think it is, there'd be a couple of tools that may take issue but I'd say the majority of students would be perfectly polite and let them do their thing.

And the UK does do prayer occasionally, as I previously mentioned, my primary school did the whole group prayer thing. And no, it wasn't a specified Christian school or anything like that.