Poll: Are you in favor of school prayer?

[Zenmervolt]

BoberFett, you make very good points, and I agree that students should be allowed to do whatever they please in their free time during the school day provided that they do not disrupt class while doing it. If a student wants to pray silently right before a test, fine. However if that student makes a big deal out of praying I think that the action will qualify as a disruption of the class and should be dealt with accordingly. I don't like the moment of silence idea because I feel that it would eat into time that could otherwise be used more productively. Trying to prohibit prayer is ludicrous, but so is promoting prayer. Basically I agree with BoberFett for the most part.

Zenmervolt

 

[Aihyah]

don't forget that online polls are the most inaccurate of polls

Question needed to be more defined. prayer in school is and has always been ok. You should have asked about the momment of silence for your poll.

 

[JellyBaby]

<< . If a student wants to pray silently right before a test, fine. >>

Heh, luckily I never needed to resort to that.

<< I don't like the moment of silence idea because I feel that it would eat into time that could otherwise be used more productively. >>

Been a while since you've been in school? Five minutes of self-reflection time is more than reasonable and just might help them be more productive the rest of the day.

 

[wviperw]

Maybe we should define &quot;prayer&quot;. I don't think they should make a time for prayer. If you wanna pray, pray to yourself. The kids shouldn't be forced to pray, and having quiet time at the beginning of the day is pointless. Nowhere in the Bible, and for that matter any religion's teachings (that I know of) command you to set a time aside while you are in public to pray.

 

[Aihyah]

Been a while since you've been in school? Five minutes of self-reflection time is more than reasonable and just might help them be more productive the rest of the day.

If you remember anything about school, it is that there is plenty of time during the day, even sometimes in class when not much is happening. You don't need to assign another 5 minutes for self reflection, ppl are daydreaming way more then 5 minutes all the time

 

[Jalapeno]

&quot;Keep going! this is going to make an interesting report. &quot;

Is this your motive, hpkeeper? Shame on you.:|:Q

 

[Davegod75]

yes

 

[PretendHer]

Maybe not necessarily prayer but, some sort of plea to whoever may be in charge that they - meaning our children - make it safely home that day.

It's a scary world out there today and we never know how each day will play out.

 

[Nefrodite]

how about praying their classmates don't have any guns or bombs hahaha then again it would be better to tell them not to pick on each other get columbined

 

[JellyBaby]

Aihyah,

Heh, but daydreaming is a bit different than meditation, self-reflection or prayer. Hell if it would help the precious kids I'd be in favor of mandatory meditation courses in grades 7-12. Once they all learn to quiet their thoughts they too can hear the tiny metachlorians living inside them.

 

[Nefrodite]

well he should have been more specific. He just meant there is enough free/wasted time during the school day in classes that you can daydream... or reflect for atleast 5 minutes... and most probably much longer

 

[dmbsuperfan]

I consider myself a good Christian guy who tries to live his life for God everyday and who is conservative in many views, but I don't believe in school prayer. This country was founded on beliefs of freedom of religion, and with this country being predominately Christian, a child that is not Christian can be put in a very awkward situation. That's my two cents.....

 

[UG]

If prayer in church isn't having the desired effect, what makes praying people think prayer in school will do any better?

 

[Cheapster]

I don't think you can mandate prayer, but there's nothing wrong with a quiet time.

 

[Nitzylplick]

This is funny, some people get so hot under the collar and should think before they type. We should all strive to keep the discussion civil. Flames do nothing but make both parties look foolish. Now that we've got that out of the way,

It makes little sense to try and control someone's mind. You cannot prevent thoughts. As long as students are non-disruptive you cannot take issue with allowing them to do what they want in terms of being allowed to pray in school. Now if Joe Bible-thumper gets up and starts preaching away during the school day, that is disruptive and should not be allowed but not based on any separation of the powers arugement. He is being disruptive like any other student who gets up and pulls a prank or what have you. Schools should not allow this type of disruption.

So what if he starts preaching in the lunch room? That's a good question, he probably wouldn't be heard by most of the students anyway since lunchrooms are noisy. Does allowing him to do this imply a promotion of religion in schools? It depends on whether they would allow a buddist to do the same.

Teachers should not lead be leading prayers as this begins promotion of religion. Having a prayer over the PA system is also crossing the line. Having a moment of silence is unneccessary as there is enough time between classes to do this. It doesn't cross the line but I don't see it as necessary and I actually agree with gunslinger that it becomes too easy for some people to start promoting religion given this opportunity. Not to mention the fact that most kids have a shorter and shorter attention span and some wouldn't be able to handle this moment of silence.

 

[AmitPatel]

I personnaly think that school-sanction prayer does not belong in school...not does a &quot;moment of silence&quot;...both will be uncomfortable for kids that do not practice any religion..

About the &quot;moment of silence&quot;--this is basically &quot;moment of prayer&quot; paid for by the school..its time taken out of the school day while teachers are getting paid, electricity is wasted, tax dollars are wasted, just so the religious people can pray. And dont say all that crap about think about your day, etc..thats just a waste of time...everyone knows that the moment of silence is just so that people can pray.

 

[Shuxclams]

<< Are you in favor of school prayer? >>


Phuck no!





SHUX

 

[Fatdog]

NO

 

[Nefrodite]

Phuck no!

Hehehhe, no better way to say it

 

[Mayhem1869]

I am for school prayer. I feel that anywhere that god is removed problems occur-Columbine,etc. I don't, however, think that it should be mandatory, just allowed.

 

[elSmoko]

at my highschool, the religious groups had religious prayer meetings around the flag pole 15 minutes or so before school started. I'm very atheist, but I thought it was cool of them. I think it should be allowed to have institutionalized religious groupings, *** as long as they aren't done during school time where those who are supposed to participate aren't necesarily of that faith at all ****
just because a lot of people dislike religion (myself included, it cost me a sweet girl) doesn't mean it should be banned, just made optional and extra-curricular, like badmington or bowling haha.

 

[gunf1ghter]

I am for school prayer. I feel that anywhere that god is removed problems occur-Columbine,etc. I don't, however, think that it should be mandatory, just allowed.

I just don't get this.... how in any way shape or form would have organized school religion kept these kids from going off? Maybe the fact that the parents didn't know what the phuck their own kids were doing in their own garage's might have more to do with this happening?

When did watching out for kids stop being the parents responsibility?

 

[dmbsuperfan]

as against school prayer as I am, there are a whole lotta studies saying that grades were higher and kids didn't get into so much trouble when there was prayer in school. These studies aren't done by just religous groups either, there are neutral studies about this too...this guy in my speech class did a speech on it and some of the statistics were pretty alarming.

 

[jhu]

school prayer? sure, but not on school time.

 

[jhu]

hpkeeper, do your own homework dammit!