The REAL reason for prayer in schools?
There's been much talk about whether it's OK to allow prayer in public schools, but very little discussion on the purpose of it, or the reasons Christians feel it's so important. The fact is, generations of people have gone through our public school systems without ever praying in class and seem no worse for it.
So I'm curious why prayer in public schools is such an important issue for some Christians. Specifically, if you feel it's important that your child pray each day, why do you feel it should be done in school? Why not at home, before or after school? Wouldn't your home be a much better environment for productive prayer? And if prayer is so important for kids in school, what about adults at work? Should we try to mandate prayer in the workplace while we're at it? You might think I'm trying to be funny, but I'm not. Prayer doesn't stop at a certain age. If anything I would think prayer becomes more important as an adult. So if prayer in public places is so important for children each day, then it can't be too bad for adults either.
Also, is it spiritual reflection that you're after? Or does it have to be denominational prayer? Would it be OK if the kids took turns? One day reciting a Christian prayer, one day an Islamic prayer, and so on, until all the different denominations of children had their prayer recited in class? Or are you just interested in getting YOUR prayer placed in public schools?
Lastly, since public schools are in varying ethnic communities, some of them no doubt will have a majority of non-Christians. In these cases, I'm assuming you're OK with Christian children saying an Islamic prayer daily (if Islam is the majority of that particular school). Or would you be against this?
My own opinion (for those who don't already know), is that you should make time at home for your child to pray. To someone like me, it seems as though you're simply too lazy or disorganized yourselves to make sure your kids pray every day. So you want to put it off on the public schools (at the expense of all the kids who aren't Christian), to do your job for you.
Hey, I'm just being honest and calling it like I see it. If you're religious, I certainly see why it's very important to you that your kids pray every day. But it's YOUR job to teach the importance of prayer to your kids and to make sure they do it. Not a teacher's!