Classroom prayer

[[File: New Rochelle High School Cheerleaders 2002C.jpg|thumb|right|American high school students praying before an athletic event]]{{religion}}{{cquote|It's another way of making kids different from other kids when they're required by law to be there.|||Toby Ziegler, ''The West Wing''<ref>http://www.westwingtranscripts.com/wwscripts/2-08.txt</ref>}}{{cquote|As long as there are tests, there ''will'' be prayer in school.|20px|20px|words of wisdom on a desk}}

'''Classroom prayer''', also known as '''school prayer''', is, as the name suggests, [[prayer]] that takes place in a classroom or [[school]]. The nature of the prayer is not specific, but among [[United States of America|American]] [[conservative]]s it should be "loud and proud"{{efn|Never mind what Jesus said in {{bible|Matthew|6|5}}.}} and only directed towards the [[Christian]] [[God]] and no other. Ideally, prayer should be mandatory and led by an authority figure, such as a teacher, visiting [[preacher]], or nominated student. In [[Public education|public schools]] in the US, this type of classroom prayer is [[United States Constitution|unconstitutional]], but there is no restriction on students themselves silently praying or forming prayer groups during recess or outside of school hours.<ref>[https://www.aclu.org/issues/religious-liberty/religion-and-public-schools/free-exercise-public-schools Free Exercise in Public Schools]</ref> In addition, private schools and [[homeschool]]s have no restrictions on whatever classroom prayer they wish to enforce.

Self-led, single-person classroom prayer is a phenomenon that is most common just before a test, especially among students who spent their "study time" wasting their time on social media and video games and editing [[RationalWiki]]. 

==God banned from school?==
{{cquote|"Thank the" — "thank the Lord"? That sounded like a prayer. A prayer. A prayer in a public school! God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place in organized religion!|||Superintendent Chalmers, in regards to new principal Ned Flanders thanking the Lord over the school's PA, "[[The Simpsons]]"}}
{{cquote|"They put the [[Brown v. Board of Education|Negroes in the schools]] and now they've driven God out."|||Alabama Congressman {{wpl|George W. Andrews}}'s reaction to {{wpl|Engel v. Vitale|''Engel v. Vitale''}}, showing the Christian [[white nationalism]] foundation 
sometimes
 found in those who advocate for school prayer.<ref>[https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/news/2002/06/27/school-prayers-lingering-legacy-ruled-illegal-40-years-ago-its-still-observed-today/27824770007/ "School prayer's lingering legacy: Ruled illegal 40 years ago, it's still observed today"] by Stephanie Hoops, Tuscaloosa News, 2002 June 27</ref><ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/24/us/white-christian-nationalism-blake-cec/index.html "An ‘imposter Christianity’ is threatening American democracy"] by John Blake, CNN, 2022 July 24</ref>}}
In the United States, [[Christian fundamentalists]] love to claim that [[God]] has been banned from public schools. While it is true that in 1963 the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] ruled in a case brought by [[Madalyn Murray O'Hair]] that prayer led by state officials is a violation of the [[Establishment Clause]],<ref>[http://supreme.justia.com/us/370/421/case.html ''Engel v. Vitale'', 370 U.S. 421 (1962)]</ref><ref>{{wpa|Abington School District v. Schempp|''Abington School District v. Schempp''}}</ref> students in [[Public education|public schools]] are free to pray at any time, whether in the hall, in an empty room, in the cafeteria, or just before a sports match. This may be done to a deity, [[automobile]], or [[Flying Spaghetti Monster|pasta dish]] of their choice.

Most schools in the more "modern" parts of the United States will go out of their way to allow a student to leave the classroom if their religion requires a moment of prayer. For example, [[Muslim]] students are generally allowed to leave the classroom for midday prayers.

Many religious fundamentalists believe the decline of teacher-led prayer has caused an increase in violent [[crime]], teen [[pregnancy]], [[sexually transmitted disease]]s, natural disasters, and pretty much anything else that has gone wrong in the past 
[[MLK|fifty]]
 
[[FDR|eighty]]
 [[American Civil War|one hundred and fifty]] years. Such conjecture ignores the obvious problem that the [[Fun:Jesusland|more religious]] [[Bible Belt|conservative states]] have a nasty habit of leading the way in nearly all of these problems, especially teen pregnancy and [[divorce]].<ref>[http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2010/0312/High-divorce-rates-and-teen-pregnancy-are-worse-in-conservative-states-than-liberal-states High divorce rates and teen pregnancy are worse in conservative states than liberal states]</ref> (OK, leading in natural disasters are just [[Divine retribution|insult on injuries]] here…) 

The claim that [[secular|secularized]] schools lead to immorality is a form of [[moral panic]], and suggests that parents are somehow incapable of either spreading 
the word of the Lawd Almighty
 their religious views to their children ''or'' giving their children a 
[[corporal punishment|smack]] with the [[Chastity belt|''real'' Bible Belt]]
 moral framework for life without [[government]] assistance. Notably, most classroom prayer advocates claim to be against any kind of government assistance in all ''other'' areas.

Curiously, enthusiasm for state-mandated prayer fades when the religion in question isn't Christianity.<ref>[http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1233630820070712 Hindu prayer in Senate draws religious protesters]</ref><ref>[http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/mar/02/north-idaho-senator-objects-hindu-prayer/ North Idaho senator objects to Hindu Prayer]</ref> The excuse for it is that the [[The United States as a Christian nation|U.S. is founded on Judeo-Christian principles]], so that's fine and dandy. Except that's not true, and even if it was true, the nation has evolved (pun ''entirely'' intended) since then.

Some [[Canada|Canuckistan]] provinces/territories permit [[Catholic]] school systems to levy taxes on homeowners to fund Catholic education, where prayer is clearly allowed. However, taxpayers in Ontario only do so on an opt-in basis (unless all schools in town are Catholic and/or French-speaking); by default, they pay the same tax to the secular public-school system instead.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20120825072822/http://www.mpac.ca/property_owners/procedures/procedure_to_change_school_support_designation.asp</ref>

==See also==
*[[Dominionism]]
*[[Mike Huckabee]]
*[[The Pledge of Allegiance]]
*[[Public school]]
*[[Separation of church and state]]

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190320145914/https://www.au.org/church-state/march-2019-church-state-magazine/featured/praying-for-sanity-religious-right-groups Praying For Sanity: Religious Right Groups Spread A Lot Of Misinformation About School Prayer. Here Is The Truth.] by Rob Boston, ''Church & State Magazine' (March 2019)

==Notes==
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==Referencess==
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[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:United States politics]]

Categories: Religion, United States politics