Prayer In The Public School System Over the past thirty years or so the issue of prayer or religious expression in the public school system has brought on heated controversy, but the question is still open for debate---Should students be allowed to have prayer or to express their religious ideals openly in the public schools across America? Many people have attempted to come up with an answer to that question, but, so far no compromise has been agreed upon. This is due to the fact thatmany people hold strong opinions when it comes to religion and education. As with any argument or debate there are basically two sides, but thisconflict has three sides: those people who think that are pro-prayer and believethat there shouldnt be a problem with prayer in the school system; those whoare against religion and education being mixed and are strong supporters ofkeeping the church and the education system completely separated; and thosewho are somewhat unconcerned or in the dark about where the issue standstoday.Many of those people who seemed to be unconcerned about this matterhave probably chosen to remain silent due to confusion. One very commonmisconception is that any type of religious expression, such as prayer, is to bekept completely out of the public schools (Buschman 1). In fact, more than half of the confused or unconcerned persons out there do not have a goodunderstanding of what is and isnt allowed when it comes to religion in school.So, just how much religion is allowed in our school systems today? Aconstitutional aspect must be taken to answer this question. The FirstAmendment clearly and plainly states that all Americans are guaranteed fivefreedoms or liberties: freedom of speech, freedom to petition the government,freedom of the press, freedom to assembly, and freedom of religion. Theapplicable part of that amendment (freedom of religion) has been broken downinto two major clauses which are the Establishment Clause and the Free...
