Prayer should not have been removed from public schools.

You mention the First Amendment. I think you have a serious misunderstanding as to what this Amendment actually says and means. Let's examine the text. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." This is the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, adopted as part of the Bill of Rights on December 15, 1791. It is a set of three related concepts, and it is not especially difficult to understand The three related concepts of the First Amendment: 1. The Establishment Clause: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." No laws respecting AN establishment of religion; the government cannot choose one religion over another, and is in fact banned from making laws concerning religions. 2. The Free Exercise Clause: "...or prohibit the free exercise thereof." Congress may not prohibit the free exercise or expression of religion. Very simple. 3. Freedoms of Speech, Press, and Assembly: "...or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." The people may speak freely, the press must remain free, the people may assemble peaceably freely. The first two concern us most in this debate. Tatarize, it may seem like I'm oversimplifying things. No doubt you have an understanding of the First Amendment. However, the First Amendment does not say: "Congress cannot make any law prohibiting the free exercise of religion except where school prayer is concerned." It says, "Congress...shall not prohibit the free exercise [of religion." Banning voluntary school prayer, which is "school prayer" and therefore part of your resolution, is very clearly prohibited by the very clause by which you defended it. In your argument you said, "The government is forbidden by the first amendment to interfere with religion (without a more primary secular purpose)." I don't see your little addendum anywhere in the Constitution. This is not a conditional amendment. You may have intended to refer to MANDATORY school prayer. This is clearly unconstitutional. However, you failed to say that either in your resolution or your argument. Therefore, by the rules of debate, it is not part of the debate, and your resolution is, in effect, "Prayer should have always been and continue to be banned from American public schools." (Awkward, but the tense could be argued so I tried to use the Perfect...which English doesn't have, unfortunately...) You can contest this is you wish, but adding something to the debate resolution after the fact is not kosher in my experience. In short, prohibiting children and young adults from praying to any deity or other worshipful being/object, is a flagrant abuse of their civil liberties. If I wanted to pray to Elvis that I would not fail my Math test, and did so WITHOUT VIOLATING the rights of others, that would be perfectly legitimate. If I violated the rights of others, of course, my right would be negated in that instance. And this isn't just silent prayer. Without being confrontational, loud, or nasty about it, anyone should be allowed to pray anywhere at almost any time; including public school children. To say nothing of the fact that this also violates the freedom of speech, which as far as I can recall refers to schoolchildren as well. Conclusion: It is ludicrous to assert that all prayer should be removed from public schools, as you have. It is also prohibited by the First Amendment, which you brought up to defend this idea. That strikes me as a warped view of the First Amendment, and in fact of prayer in general. Thanks for putting this debate out here, Tatarize. I'm looking forward to it.