Prayer in Public

The issue regarding public prayer has always been an extremely controversial subject matter. Many believe that is their right to participate in the act of public prayer while others feel it conflicts with their rights as citizens of the United States. Be it prayer in school, on the corner of a busy street, at a graduation ceremony, or at a sports arena, this particular topic seems to hit the nerves of a great number of people for various different reasons. There are contrasting beliefs towards prayer concerning American's constitutional rights, how it affects our society and younger generations, and even what the bible says about communicating faith through public prayer. I feel that praying in public is my right as an American and as a Christian. I don't think that prayer should be limited to anyone regardless of race, sex, or religious affiliation, as long as we respect the choices of others not to take part.

One of the popular debates over public prayer is the disagreement with regard to what the bible really means in the verses from Matthew 6:5-6. The Lord says, "and when thou prayest, 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...when thou

prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy father which is in secret" (Robinson). Those who are against the idea of prayer in public have a tendency

to present this verse with a mind-set that the bible is clearly criticizing the act of praying in public and refers to it as hypocritical (Heindel). Jesus expresses disapproval towards situations where prayer is done while others are present (Robinson). On the rival view, numerous people become very offended at this point of view. Christians who are aware of this passage know that it is not meant to criticize public prayer, but instead is meant to condemn insincerity (Heindel). The Lord is referring to the acts of the Pharisees and how they twisted what was meant to be an act of private prayer into a public announcement in order to show off their immense spirituality. This is much like the idea of those who are continuously boasting about how much time they spend in prayer with the Lord ("School Prayer"). He without a doubt did not intend to declare public prayer as unacceptable, especially since there are several times throughout the bible where the Lord is praying with others. He is constantly reaching out to others and helping them to embrace in prayer (Robinson). Christians feel that there is an obvious difference between praying in public for the purpose of being admired by others, and for the purpose of spreading the greatness of their savior and participating in God's will to share the words of the Lord. Prayer in public that is done from the bottom of your heart without self-importance in mind is an extremely powerful act (Heindel). A genuine prayer by an individual is powerful in itself, but when prayers unite there is no limit to what they can accomplish (Axtman and Parker). Passions run very high on this matter and those who take part in

this dispute seem to be set on their opinions about what the Lord had really intended for prayer.

An additional position for and against the act of public prayer is the legal right of Americans and the effect of the constitution on this topic. Those who do not support the notion of public prayer point out that prayer in school violates the concept of a separation between church and state ("Pros and Cons"). Prayer in school also abuses the first amendment which makes clear that our government cannot create any law with regard to the establishment of religion ("Pros and Cons"). Those against public prayer also draw attention to the reality that prayer is, in fact, allowed in public schools. Students are constantly permitted to pray while on the bus, at group meetings around the flag pole, in religious clubs at the school or even in the cafeteria (Robinson). There is nobody stopping the students from praying. They are assured that their right to pray will not be taken away as long as their prayer is not a distraction and as long as it is not done during classroom learning time (Robinson). As for the contradictory side of this argument, they feel that they are being deprived of their constitutional right to freedom of speech when public prayer is denied (Heindel). They state that it is completely legal to allow those who wish to participate in prayer to pray. They also point out the fact that it is only illegal to force others to pray, which they do not believe they are doing ("Graduation Prayer"). James Traficant said that "a congress that allows God to be banned from our schools while our schools can teach about cults, Hitler and even devil worship is wrong, out of touch, and needs some common sense" (Robinson). Provided that those who do not want

to partake in prayer are not being forced to do so, there is absolutely no reason why people who wish to make known their love for their savior through public or group prayer should not be able to (Heindel). Krista Tippet, in her Christian Journal states that if we were to simply follow the intentions of our founders there would not be so much confusion and there would also be further religion in the United States (Tippett). Most Christians are very familiar with the Ten Commandments, the third commandment being that they are not to take the name of the lord in vain. With the removal of prayer from our schools they feel that we are in violation of this commandment (Reagan). Christians feel very strongly that an act even worse than using the Lord's sacred name in vain would be the act of treating it with disrespect and denying him his rightful place by removing it from the public's use. The Lord says in Matthew 19:14, "let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them." This is another commandment of the Lord that has been disrespected through the action of removing prayer from our public (Reagan). It is questionable where the line must be drawn relating to the rights of American's. It is the right of those who are religious to follow their beliefs and participate in prayer. However, it is just as much the rights of non believers to know that they are not going to be forced to partake in a prayer they are against.

Another passionate subject matter is the effect prayer in school related events has on our society in general. Many argue that the option to pray in school is beneficial while others strongly believe just the opposite. From the perspective of those who are against open prayer, public schools are perceived to be used for the sole purpose of educating our

children, not to force religion upon them ("Pros and Cons").