That gives me a glimmer of hope for this next generation. Every great nation that got so powerful, greedy and rich that they didn't need God has fallen. We are becoming an unethical, immoral, greedy, Godless nation, and we will pay for it.

When you take God out of your country you are on your way down.This country was founded on this pricipal.I hope America wakes up befor it's too late.

Thanks for posting this. I've copied/pasted it, just in case .......

Shirley

I get SO tired of this type of thing...

MANDATORY prayer is not allowed in school. Show me a kid that doesn't say a prayer before a math test. I have seen first hand kids praying before their meal... These are prayers said quietly or to themselves.

I have seen prayer after a football game by the team on the field...by those who choose to with their own free will.

PRAYER IS NOT OUTLAWED IN SCHOOL!

MANDATORY prayer is - would you be OK with your Christian child being forced to sit through and PARTICIPATE in a Muslim prayer or a Jewish prayer? MANDITORY? I bet not. Why should a child of a different faith be forced to sit through a Christian prayer? Will that make our schools better?

And since when has the Pledge of Allegiance been banned in school?

The line "under God" was inserted in the Pledge of Allegiance in the mid-50's in response to the Red Scare. I have no problem with it in there.

I am sorry to step on toes - but I think it is ridiculous to spread this message.

Thanks, iowagirl. Your post is what needs to be cut/pasted.

Amen -- and this has been going around since before
2008 -- so not even sure it is true.

Here, the Lord's prayer is no longer recited in schools. I assumed we weren't the only ones.
Sorry.

The irony is that this country was not founded under God. It was founded under the freedom of religion - to worship whomever you want, or no one at all.

It's an amazing freedom to have that choice as so many in the world don't. Mandatory religion has no place in this country, especially in public schools.

Thank you iowagirl!! Our country may or may not be going down the toilet, but if it is, it's certainly not because children of all faiths aren't being forced to pray at school.

Anyone in this country is free to pray any time they want, to any God they want...you just can't force others to, and THANK GOODNESS for that. How would you like to be forced to pray? Prayer is between you and your God, NOT the government, schools, or anyone else.

I'm going to hedge my bet here by saying, "AMEN, IowaGirl!"

People are free to recite the Pledge and omit "under God". That is *one* of the greatest things about our nation.

Thanks, iowagirl, and others...you saved me the time it would have taken to type up essentially the same message about how organized prayer in schools and other public places is so coercive and can be divisive in our diverse, multi-cultural, multi-religion country.

To those for whom prayer is important, I accept that. I just don't accept how the public practice of religion in schools is supposed to be harmless, or somehow makes our country stronger.

Chiming in here....we are so fortunate to live in a country where every person has the freedom to choose (so many things).

Personally, even though I don't believe, it doesn't bother me if they say a prayer around me...but I feel it's very disrespectful to try and force a certain religion on others that may not believe is Jesus Christ. I think it's insane how Christians believe that theirs is the only religion that matters and don't think that there are many other people that believe in a different God and don't want to hear about "Jesus Christ hallelujah and amen". Maybe they believe in Budda or Allah or don't believe that Christ has yet been born. I hope I never live to see being forced to pray or forced to not pray. I should be able to make that decision of my own free will.

More email spam that has a slant that people like so they send it on, not unlike the $250 cookie recipe, the stolen kidneys and all the political rhetoric claiming things about politicians. And like all the spam, this one is full of distortions and false information intended to inflame. iowagirl2006 pointed out many of the distortions and falsehoods, whether they're "lies" I'll leave to you to decide.

I know of schools used for holding prayer sessions BTW.

How about a better prayer:

Now I lay me down to study.
I pray the Lord I won't go nutty.
But if I do, don't pity me at all.
Just lay my bones in the study hall
and pile my books upon my chest
and tell my teacher I've done my best.
Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
But if I should die before I wake,
that's one less test I'll have to take!

And on a cursory look I can't find any verification this was written by a 15 yo or that it got any grade, but it's not surprising. Spam never documents. That's the first sign of spam. And "I saw this on CNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" isn't proof either! LOL

I have had too many experiences in my life to deny the existance of God or the role of the Savior in my life. However, I don't expect the rest of the world to see things through my lens.
As long as you let me say what I think and worship what I believe in, I'll be grateful and I'll let you pray to your boat or your tv or the rock in the back yard. Doesn't matter to me a bit.

It's downright scary (to me) to imagine living in a country that has a national mandatory religion. Might as well live in the Middle East. I'm a Unitarian Universalist, and I attend church with people of different faiths, as well as with agnostics and atheists. Yes, atheists do go to our church; we're a loving community of all souls!

Evrytime we turn around some opponent of religion cites the 1st ammendment of the Constitution as their justification to prohibit any public display of our beliefs, however, does anyone ever notice that in order to do so they have to take a portion of the 1st ammendment out of context?

How many times a week do we hear;

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion"

The true intent of that statement is to prohibit the government from establishing a single religion as the official religion of our country. The founding fathers saw fit to include that because in Europe the Roman Catholic Church had reigned supreme for a 1000 years from 532AD until the great reform in the early 1500's.

And after the reform England separated from the Catholic Church, but they formed the Anglican Church which was the official church of the British Empire for the next 100 or so years.

People immigrated to this country in search of a place where they could follow their own chosen religions without government interference, thus they put in the constitution that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" (to the exclusion of all others), don't believe it, try reading the full context of the first ammendment in regards to religion:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Not only does it say that the government may not establish a national religion, does it not also say that they may not make any laws "prohibiting the free exercise thereof"????

Now personally I don't care what church the next person attends, nor do I care if you worship trees & bushes, science or even the devil himself if that is what you believe, In fact I served 8 years in the military to help insure your right to do so, and I would do that all over again if necessary,,,but at the same token,,,no one,, not the congress, nor the president or any other person in our society has the right to prohibit me from the free exercise of my religion,,and the constitution says so..

Yes Lazypup, but having manadatory, organized prayer (of any religion) in a public school is not free exercise of religion. You are free to pray when and where you want, that is free exercise of religion...but having organized prayer as part of curriculum is imposing a specific religious belief on everybody.

An above poster said, "When you take God out of your country you are on your way down.This country was founded on this pricipal.I hope America wakes up befor it's too late." Actually, the complete opposite is true! It is specifically written that religion and government be separate so folks can be free to believe what they want to. God was taken out of "country" on purpose. Were the founding fathers Christian? Yes, mostly they were. But they had the foresight to acknowledge that people coming to this country should have the right to religious freedom, and be able to believe whatever they wanted.

I honestly can't even believe this is an argument for people. If you want to pray, then pray, nobody is stopping you! It is completely hypocritical that some people don't want others imposing their beliefs on them, but they have no qualms imposing their beliefs on others. If you want your kids to go to a school with only Christian kids, where praying is part of the curriculum, then the answer is simple, send them to a Christian school. But kids who are not Christian should NOT be forced to participate in Christian prayers in a public school.

Well said, Jenn.

I could not agree more... but then I was never confronted with a prayer in school.. We did start our day with a pledge of allegiance but no prayers...

If we were to allow formal prayers in a public school it would then be a matter of contention as to whose prayer we use,,Perhaps Christian on Monday, Jewish on Tuesday, Muslim on Wednesday, and a moment of silence on Thursday for the aetheist. I certainly do not want a mess like that...

Schools have all they can do to confine themselves to teaching reading, writing and arithmetic...let the individuals church, synagogue, mosque, coven or forrest teach their religion.

I truely believe that everyones relationship to God is a private matter..but then some will argue that they have no relationship to God, but that is not true, If they are aetheist then their relationship to God is to deny his existence, which is their right and I not only firmly respect their right to that opinion I would stand toe to toe with them to defend their right even though I might believe something different. How the individual chooses to respond to their relationship must alway remain their personal choice..not something that is mandated by any government or organization. otherwise we all loose a bit of our freedom.

I always feel bad about the peer pressure on the kids on athletic teams who do a group "prayer" before a game. Even if the coach says it's voluntary, no way is that true. Or a "non-denominational" prayer? HA! So the kid who has other beliefs from the majority feels enormous pressure. Even the kid who belongs to a main-stream sect that happens to think that prayer should be private deserves to not have that pressure.

did someone forget that the kids can't take a bible and read it, even in study hall.

and gathering together as friends who believe the same and say a prayer ...even quietly is not allowed.

I stand for "One Nation Under GOD"....

Go ahead...throw all the junk you can find at me....GOD is my shield....

patti

When I was in public high school 10 years ago, plenty of people read bibles or said grace before they ate in the cafeteria and no one cared. I don't see how schools can forbid someone from saying a prayer or reading a bible as long as it's not in a teaching or authority position and doesn't infringe on other student religious rights.

Has reading the bible or praying been officially banned in public schools, Patti? This is news to me but I don't follow religion or education news much.

I believe there need to be checks and balances, otherwise our democracy would quickly turn into a theocracy. With prayers before city council meetings, swearing on bibles in court and other public religious displays, it sometimes seems like it already has.

Nobody is throwing junk at anybody. The point it, ust because YOU believe something, doesn't mean everyone else has to.

No chi, The Bible is not banned in public schools. It may be banned from being taught in public schools though. Students can carry their own Bible if they want. Plenty of schools have student-led prayer groups also, they are just NOT organized by the school.

Not everybody is the same religion, that's all there is to it. Folks from all religions pay taxes that go to pay for public schools and should be able to send their children to school without being taught that one religion is better than another. I see no problem with religion classes that teach about the many religions of the world, but I have a feeling that a lot of the same people wanting organized prayers in public schools are going to be the same folks that wouldn't want their kids to hear about what other people believe in.

Ditto what IowaGirl said!