...Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men....But thou, when thou prayest, enter into the closet, and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret... (Matthew 6:5-6)Pilgrims came to the new land to create a place where people were free to worship and think as they liked, a place where praying is not coerced. They produced the United States of America: the land of the free. With all the hardships suffered to create such freedom the battle for religious liberty is still being fought. Some students wish to pray at graduation exercises or sporting events, but are they being fair to other students who may not want to pray? If this type of prayer were even student led it would be unconstitutional and a clear infringement of our First Amendment. That amendment contains the "Establishment Clause" which prohibits the government from "establishing" religion. Simply put, secular institutions like the public schools should not be a forum for religious instruction. For more than 200 years we have had more religious liberty in this country than anywhere else, in fact this nation was built on the grounds of freedom and should remain that way. (http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~ckramer/research2.html, I Want My Freedom!)Do a majority of people "support" school prayer? Those results depend on exactly how the question is asked. Surveys suggest that most people reject the notion of mandatory prayer, but even if the overwhelming majority thought that prayer was a "good idea" that does not make the practice constitutional. In the Religious Equality Amendment, students can pray in schools if they choose to do so. They can pray during lunch-breaks, between classes, on the bus to and from the school and during other free time. Some say making school children choose a religion to pray for would seriously endanger our religious ...
