School Prayer

Round One: Arguments are delivered Round Two: Rebuttal Round Three: Conclusion Thanks to anyone who accepts this challenge! Argument: Many people struggle over issues revolving around religion. Everybody has their own beliefs, but a huge question that has arisen is whether or not school prayer should be allowed in public schools. The answer is yes. School prayer school should be allowed because the United States government was founded on religious principles, morals cannot be properly taught without it, and because the majority of people in the United States are religious. For over two hundred years, the government of the United States allowed school prayer to exist. In fact, our country was built on Christian/religious principles. Thomas Jefferson, author of the "Declaration of Independence," said that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men were created equal, that they are endowed by God with certain unalienable rights" (Jefferson). Thomas Jefferson told the King of England that they were succeeding because England was violating their unalienable rights given by God. In other words, Jefferson used religious principles as a reason for the colonists to form a new country. But not only is our country founded on religious principles, but our government"s congressional meetings begin with prayer at the start of each session. Since the government is actively involved with prayer, why shouldn"t the governed get involved with prayer as well? Our leaders have set an excellent precedent of prayer. So why shouldn"t we follow our leaders example? Many of our presidents such as Abraham Lincoln have prayed to God during office and have recognized our country as God"s nation. Lincoln, in his "Gettysburg Address," said that our "nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom" (Lincoln). Our leaders and our government have advocated prayer for the majority of our nation"s history. There is no doubt from a historical standpoint that our nation was founded on religious principles including prayer. It is reasonable to allow school prayer again because our nation has supported prayer for most of its existence. Another reason why school prayer should be allowed is because morality cannot be correctly taught without religion. Only religion can give the most logical explanation for the origin of morality. Most people have an idea of what is right and wrong. Religious people, most of the time state that morality comes from God. This makes sense considering most people abide by an objective moral code that they expect everyone to know about. And the only way an objective moral code could exist is if a God created it. Objective morality can only come from an objective being (God). Now some people might argue that there is no such thing as objective morality or a real right and wrong. But the people that argue this always go back on their claim a moment later (Lewis 6). People try to argue that morality is created by societies. But we also understand that there are societies that have condoned evil practices when in fact people know that the society was wrong. For example, W. H. Auden, a famous 20th century poet, said that "there had to be a reason Hitler was utterly wrong." Auden said this famous quote after going to a theater that showed pictures of the Holocaust. These pictures sickened him and made him rethink his worldview. Before watching these pictures, Auden believed that it was up to the society to decide what was right and wrong. But during his time at the theater he realized that if societies decided what was right and wrong, and if morality is subjective, this would mean that Hitler was justified in everything he did. Well, at least according to that society. And who are we to tell them they are wrong if morality is purely subjective? Therefore, religion gives the best explanation for why there is an objective morality and why it exists. Even though religion gives a great explanation for why morality exists, it also gives the only reason people have to be moral. According to religion, people are moral to receive gifts or to avoid punishment from God. Others in religion believe they are moral to be more like their loving God. There is no other reason to be moral. Although people have no reason to moral, people may have some objections. Some may argue that they are moral to benefit society. The problem with this response is that benefiting society is part of what it means to be moral. Another objection would be that morality is merely an instinct. The problem with this claim is that people have different instincts which would make morality subjective. And again, if morality is subjective, we could never tell people that they are doing something wrong. Another problem with this argument is that morality is usually that thing that decides between which instincts to follow. For example, if a person were to hear a gun shot and a cry for help, people would most likely have two instincts. One would be to run away from danger; another instinct would be to run to help the person. Morality might push a person to choose the weaker instinct, which is to choose to help the person instead of saving themselves. Therefore, religion gives the only reason to be moral. Without God, there is no reason to be moral. But religion tells people to be moral to please their God or to be more like him. The last reason why school prayer should be allowed is because the majority of the United States population is religious. According to statistics, "86% of American adults identified as Christians in 1990 and 76% in 2008" (Kosmin 2). It is understood that some people are not religious. But why should the minority get their way? If the minorities do not want partake in the prayer, than they do not have to. They can just respectfully listen and move on with their lives. Why does the majority have to spend extra money on private schools to receive school prayer? In reality, it should be the minority that should have to attend their own private school to get what they want. Let the majority have their way in this case. Although it is also understood that people of different religions might get offended because the Christian God is often the God that is prayed to. But then again, the majority of the United States population is Christian. Let the minorities create their own private schools instead of the other way around. Let the God of Christianity, who the founders of this country supported, be prayed to in public schools. In conclusion, school prayer school should be allowed because the United States was founded on religious principles, morals cannot be properly taught without it, and because the majority of people in the United States are religious. The arguments against school prayer are really mediocre at best. The arguments for school prayer really do make sense. Without school prayer, something huge is missing from the classrooms. Morality disappears and people become brain washed into thinking that there is no such thing as right and wrong. It seems that school prayer is certainly appropriate for schools. Sources: Jefferson, Thomas. "The Declaration of Independence." The Chapters of Freedom. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2015. . Kosmin, Barry. "Trinity College Statistics." American Religious Identification Survey. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2015. . Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity: A Revised and Amplified Edition, with a New Introduction, of the Three Books, Broadcast Talks, Christian Behaviour, and beyond Personality. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001. Print. Lincoln, Abraham. "The Gettysburg Address." Speeches and Writings. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2015. .