While most agree that the absence of school prayer is not the only reason for the rise in violence, supporters of school prayer say it has definitely played a part. Now, all too frequently, the crimes are robbery, rape, assaults on students and teachers, and more recently mass murder. The one defining event that has taken place in our nation is the removal of prayer from our public schools. Prayer, or lack thereof, has been the defining factor. Another factor that supporters of school prayer point to is the fact that the majority of Americans support prayer in public schools.
Students gather and pray together outside a public school.
Sixty-seven percent think students should be allowed to lead prayers at after school events, just as Marian Ward did at Santa Fe High School. While majority opinion does not make laws, it shows that there is vast support for some kind of voluntary school prayer to be put back into public schools during the school day. Proclamations of Christian faith can be found in numerous state constitutions and within the creeds of most universities founded in the early times of our country, yet God cannot be mentioned during school in our current times. Some feel it may already be too late. Bruce Porter is Senior Pastor of Celebration Church in Littleton, Colorado.