Prayer In Schools

8 Pages 1997 Words

es singing of the “Star-Spangled Banner”. This is just one example of how effective the moment of silence is on grade-school-aged children. Those who oppose moment of silence use examples like this to support their opinion.
Traditionally, those who oppose moment of silence policies use an argument similar to this one, “Under the constitutional separation of church and state, it is the job of parents and clergy, not the government , to tell children when to pray, how to pray and what to pray for.” Justice Blackmun, like many anti-prayer supporters, surveys many of the different court decisions that emphasize a strong separation of church and state to form his stance on moment of silence legislation. Blackmun argues that the government must not participate or affiliate itself with any religious organization.
Activists also sustain their argument by the Supreme Court’s view on moments of silence and its effect on younger students; like the story of Hunter, the third-grader above.
”…Primary and secondary school students are so impressionable and
vulnerable that any prayers or other religious exercises lead by or
presided over by teachers would amount to such powerful of religious in
doctrinarian, to nonbelievers, of exclusion to amount to an unconstitutional establishment of religion.”

Some teens in Virginia schools use the moment of silence to pray, others gather their thoughts, several read a text book, or even gossip in voices that get less quite as the seconds pass by. Propo...