Prayer in School and Its Historical Context:

Prayer in School and Its Historical Context:

Prayer in schools is one of the major issues that put teachers, parents, and administrators at odds to an extent that even simple discussions regarding the subject can degenerate into heated debates. In most cases, discussions on prayer result in heated sidebars about morality, rates of crime, and the Constitution. Even though parents, teachers, and administrators continue to debate about prayer, children still have to go to school. According to a 2005 Gallup Poll survey, approximately 76% of Americans support a constitutional amendment to allow voluntary prayer in public schools (Butler, 2012). This could be the reason why many schools continue to promote prayer on school compounds even though such practice is unconstitutional. Regardless of the current heated debates, prayer in schools is an issue that can be understood from current practice and the historical context.

The heated debates surrounding prayer in schools can be attributed to the increased controversy on religion and public education. In most cases, the debates on religion and public education are based on either confusion or misinformation. Currently, the U.S. Supreme Court has largely been vigilant in prohibiting public schools and other governmental agencies from violating the constitutional right of American citizens to follow their own consciences with regards to religion. This vigilance is based on the 1962 ruling in which U.S. Supreme Court justices declared that official prayer had no place in America's public education. Current debates regarding this ruling have been based on misunderstandings since the court did not prohibit voluntary prayer by students but forbade government officials from composing prayers for students to recite.

From a historical perspective, prayer in schools has primarily been influenced by rulings in various cases regarding religion and public education. The first case regarding the issue is the 1962 Engel v. Vitale case in which parents in New York sought for clarifications regarding a prayer composed by New York Education board. In this case, parents from different religious backgrounds did not want their children to be forced to recite state sponsored decisions and the high court ruled that such initiatives could be considered as government promotion of religion. One year later, an important ruling about prayer in public schools was made by the U.S. Supreme Court in Abington Township School District v. Schempp, where school sponsored recitation of the Lord's Prayer and Bible reading was declared unconstitutional ("Prayer and the Public Schools," n.d.).

These rulings have since played an important role on the issue of prayer in schools because they have been used as the basis of current debates. The rulings created a myth and an assumption that prayer was removed from public schools. As a result, the rulings have been deeply unpopular with the public, several politicians, and many religious organizations. The 2005 Gallup Poll survey confirmed the 1991 opinion poll in which 78% of Americans supported the reintroduction of prayer in public schools. This support contributed to the enactment of several state legislatures contributing to religious schools and practices. The long-standing unpopularity of the rulings on school prayer is attributed to the fact that more than 80% of the American population believe in God while nearly 60% are members of a religious organization.