Mr. John Hardison
American Literature
(Honors)
16 November 2012
A Nation Built on
Prayer
A problem in our society today is the controversy over
the separation of church and state which encompasses the right to pray in
public schools. Before 1962, every
morning began with a prayer at school.
Now the closest thing we have to prayer is a moment of silence. The United States was founded on Christian
beliefs, and they should still play a vital role in our country today. George Washington stated, “It is impossible
to govern the world without God and the Bible.” The people who would ban religion in school
always quote the first amendment to the Constitution by claiming that there
must be a separation of Church and State.
However, the separation of Church
and State is not in the Constitution at all.
The first amendment actually states, “Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free speech
thereof.” The purpose was to keep people
from being forced into an “official” religion that was required by the
government. We have the right to choose
whatever religion we want to believe in.
We need to search for what our founding fathers originally intended for
this to mean to us as citizens.
Why do children need prayer? According to a poll taken in
July of 1999, 70% of Americans agree that students in a public school setting
should be allowed to say a word of prayer out loud in the duration of the class
period. The United States is a democratic country, and since the majority of
people agree on prayer during school, we should change the law. “Since the
Supreme Court decided against prayers in school in the early 1960’s, there has
been a major decline in the morals and character of the American people” (Evans
2). Ever since this law has been established, divorce rates for 1,000 married
women over the ages of fifteen went from 9.2 in 1960 to 20.9 in 1990 according
to divorce rate studies. The main problems that children ages twelve to eighteen
face include pregnancy and drug abuse. Ever since prayer in public schools has
been abolished, the rate of pregnancy and drug abuse has sky rocketed. “And yet
the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at
issue around the globe – the belief that the rights of man come not from the
generosity of the state, but from the hand of God” (Kennedy 197). Kennedy’s
quote in his speech is saying that the rights of man are deserved because we
are people of God.
There is a reason that the Pledge of Allegiance says “one
nation, under God”. The United States is God’s people and we are under God’s
hand. If it weren’t for Him and His creations, there would be no such thing as
America. The law for the allowance of prayer in public school should be passed
and put into effect. God allowed in the
classroom and school, but also in the world.
Everyone screams “equal rights”, but what about the rights of the child
who wants to pray? That “right” has
been taken away. The purpose of prayer
in schools and school events was to simply ask for protection for that day, or
in the case of an athletic event, the prayer was meant to ask for protection of
the athletes. We have abolished the
right to public prayer in school and at school events. My
question is since we have taken God out of the equation, have we left the
Almighty with no choice but to lift his protective Hand from this great
nation? The United States used to be the
#1 nation in the world economically, and now we are not in even the top
five. The United States was considered
the home of the free and the land of the brave.
Where is that bravery and freedom now?
Our freedoms are being removed and tossed onto the floors of courtrooms
everywhere. It is time we take a stand
for what we believe in.
Work
Cited
Evans, Laura. "Pro
and Con Arguments about Prayers in Public Schools." Weblog post. GoogoBits.com.
N.p., 20 May 2005. Web. 13 Nov. 2012.
