School prayer

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School prayer in its most common usage refers to state sanctioned prayer of students in schools. Depending on the country and the type of school, organized state sanctioned prayer may either be permitted or proscribed. If permitted, the school prayer may be a required activity or may be optional for students. If proscribed, school prayer may be restricted or banned outright. The separation of church and state (e.g.United States) is one legal reason given for proscribing school prayers. The freedom of conscience is another legal reason for proscribing school prayers (e.g. Canada)

1 United States
- 1.1 At Graduation
2 United Kingdom
3 Canada
- 3.1 British Columbia
4 France
5 Turkey
6 References
7 External links
8 See also

[edit] United States

Main articles: Education in the United States and Religion in the United States

School prayer is an issue that has been controversial in the United States since the early 20th century. In the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, school days customarily opened with an oral prayer. However, citing separation of church and state as specified in the First Amendment and applied to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment, opponents of the practice were successful in getting mandatory prayer abolished through the judicial process, though not eliminating prayer altogether. Proponents of school prayer have worked to reestablish the practice. These recent proponents are largely, but not exclusively, Christians of various denominations. However, some major Christian denominations are opposed to the practice.

In the U.S., staff-sanctioned prayer in public schools was effectively outlawed by two landmark Supreme Court decisions: Engel v. Vitale [1962] and Abington School District v. Schempp [1963]. Following these two landmark cases came the Court's decision in Lemon v. Kurtzman [1971]. This ruling established the so-called "Lemon test" which states that in order to be constitutional under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment any practice sponsored within public schools must: 1) have a secular purpose, 2) must neither advance nor inhibit religion, and 3) must not result in an excessive entanglement between government and religion.

The issues surrounding this ruling seemed fairly straightforward until the 1990s, when the courts began addressing prayer at school extracurricular events with less clarity. While some courts allowed student prayers from the podium at graduation exercises, a federal appellate court in Houston ruled in 1999 that student-led prayer in a huddle before a football game is unconstitutional. Much of the recent controversy has revolved around prayer at school athletics events. Guidance was provided by the Supreme Court in Santa Fe v. Doe [2000] when it upheld a lower court ruling invalidating prayers conducted over the public address system prior to high school games at public school facilities before a school-gathered audience.

Regarding the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, the courts have consistently ruled that students' expressions of religious views through prayer or otherwise cannot be abridged unless they can be shown to cause substantial disruption in the school. Reinstatement of state-sponsored prayer has been attempted in different forms in a number of areas of the U.S. Few areas allow oral prayer, but some introduced a "moment of silence" or "moment of reflection" when a student may, if he or she wishes to, offer a silent prayer.

Besides citing separation of church and state, some opponents question why children cannot simply pray during non-school hours, or during school hours but not as part of an organized, state-sanctioned activity.

[edit] At Graduation

Recently, some high schools have banned prayer from graduation ceremonies. In May 2006, the ACLU of Tennessee convinced Munford High School's principal to ban official prayer at graduation. [1] In response, students pulled out cards with the Lord's Prayer written on them and began to read. Also, some have concluded that the school's ACLU club faculty adviser has lost her job over the incident. [2]

[edit] United Kingdom

Main articles: Education in the United Kingdom and Religion in the United Kingdom

In England and Wales, the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 states that all pupils in state schools must take part in a daily act of collective worship, unless their parents request that they be excused from attending.[3] The majority of these acts of collective worship are required to be "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character", with two exceptions:

Religious schools, which should provide worship appropriate to the school's religion (although most religious schools in the UK are Christian.)
Schools where the Local Education Authority's Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education has determined that Christian worship would not be appropriate for part or all of the school.

Despite there being a statutory requirement for schools to hold a daily act of collective worship, many do not. OFSTED's 2002-03 annual report [4], for example, states that 80% of secondary schools are failing to provide daily worship for all pupils

[edit] Canada

[edit] British Columbia

Prior to 1944, in British Columbia, the Public Schools Act (1872) permitted the use of the Lord’s Prayer in opening or closing school. In 1944, the government of British Columbia amended the Public Schools Act to provide for compulsory Bible reading at the opening of the school day, to be followed by a compulsory recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. This amendment appeared as section 167 of the Public Schools Act, and read as follows: [5]

167. All public schools shall be opened by the reading, without explanation or comment, of a passage of Scripture to be selected from readings prescribed or approved by the Council of Public Instruction. The reading of the passage of Scripture shall be followed by the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, but otherwise the schools shall be conducted on strictly secular and non-sectarian principles. The highest morality shall be inculcated, but no religious dogma or creed shall be taught. 1948, c.42, s.167

The compulsory nature of the Bible reading and prayer recitation was slightly modified by regulations drawn up by the Council of Public Instruction. These regulations provided that either a teacher or student who has conscientious ground for objecting to the religious observances may be excused from them. The procedure to be followed in such cases was outlined in the regulations, which follow in full:

Division (15)—Scripture Readings (Section 167)

15.01 Where a teacher sends a written notice to the Board of School Trustees or official trustee by whom he is employed that he has conscientious objections to conducting the. ceremony of reading prescribed selections from the Bible and reciting the Lord’s Prayer (as provided by Section 167 of the Public Schools Act), he shall be excused from such duty, and in such case it shall be the duty of the Board of School Trustees or official trustee concerned to arrange with the Principal to have the ceremony conducted by some other teacher in the school, or by a school trustee, or, where neither of these alternatives is possible, by one of the senior pupils of the school or by some other suitable person other than an ordained member of a religious sect or denomination.

15.02 Where the parent or guardian of any pupil attending a public school sends a written notice to the teacher of the pupil stating that for conscientious reasons he does not wish the pupil to attend the ceremony of reading prescribed selections from the Bible and reciting the Lord’s Prayer at the opening of school, the teacher shall excuse the pupil from attendance at such ceremony and at his discretion may assign the pupil some other useful employment at school during that period, but the pupil so excused shall not be deprived of any other benefits of the school by reason of his non-attendance at the ceremony.

In 1982, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms received royal assent. Section 2 of the charter guaranteeing freedom of conscience and freedom of religion trumped Section 167 of the Public Schools Act (1872).

The challenges to Christian opening and closing exercises occurred mainly in Ontario with the crucial case being fought in The Ontario Court of Appeal in 1988.[6]

Zylberberg v. Sudbury Board of Education (Director) The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the use of the Lord’s Prayer in opening exercises in public schools offended the Charter s. 2(a). 1988. (1988), 65 O.R. (2d) 641, 29 O.A.C. 23 (C.A.). The education regulations did not require the use of the Lord's Prayer and there was an exemption provision. The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the regulation infringed religious freedom because schools could use only the Lord's Prayer rather than a more inclusive approach. The exemption provision actually stigmatized children and coerced them into a religious observance which was offensive to them.

The Ontario Court of Appeal was persuaded by the argument that the need to seek exemption from Christian exercises is itself a form of religious discrimination. The judges described as insensitive the position of the respondents that it was beneficial for the minority children to confront the fact of their difference from the majority.

In 1989, Joan Russow challenged, in the British Columbia Supreme Court, the Public Schools Act (1872)’s requirement that in British Columbia all public schools were to be opened with the Lord’s Prayer and a Bible reading. The argument was similar to the Zylberberg case and the result was the same with the offending words in the act being struck out as being inconsistent with freedom of conscience and religion guarantees in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Russow v. British ColumbiaThe B.C. Supreme Court follows Zylberberg case to strike down use of the Lord’s Prayer in schools. 1989. (1989), 35 B.C.L.R. (2d) 29 (S.C.) The British Columbia Supreme Court incorporates the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision in Zylberberg in its entirety.

From 1871 to 1989, observance of school prayer had declined.

[This writer remembers regular school prayers ending sometime in his grade 7 year (1978-79) at Pinecrest Elementary in Campbell River. This was the last year he personally heard classes start with a short Bible reading and the Lord’s Prayer. Even then, the regular teacher left the room and another teacher conducted the short exercise.--Wassupwestcoast 02:16, 5 December 2006 (UTC)]

With the unfavorable court decision, the requirement for Christian morning exercises was replaced with the following clauses found in the School Act (1996) in British Columbia.[7]

Conduct:

76 (1) All schools and Provincial schools must be conducted on strictly secular and nonsectarian principles.</

(2) The highest morality must be inculcated, but no religious dogma or creed is to be taught in a school or Provincial school.

[edit] France

As a declared 'laicist' (roughly 'religiously neutral', secular) state since the French Revolution in 1789, France has no school prayers. In fact, public servants are advised to keep their religious faith private, and may be censured if they display it too openly. The French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools goes beyond restricting prayer in schools, and bans the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols by pupils in public primary and secondary schools.

[edit] Turkey

Unknown to many people in the West, the predominantly Muslim country of Turkey is in the public sphere a strongly secular nation. In this regard, it is much like France, on whose system of laicism its founder Kemal Ataturk modeled the rules on religion when he reformed his country in the early 20th century. School prayer is therefore unknown, and suspected religious motivations can cause serious difficulties for public servants.