Is Prayer In School Legal?

There are plenty of ethical issues which the educational sector has to contend with, and it can be worthwhile for you to think carefully about what these issues are so you can act appropriately in your capacity within this area. Praying in school is one debate which has been ongoing for a while - this has also been reflected in the many court cases which have been undertaken regarding this subject as some sort of regulation which can be applied in many different ways can be determined. In this article, we are going to look at the generally accepted stance on whether prayer in school is legal.

On the most part, a student can pray in the way that they feel appropriate as long as they are not engaged in learning at the time. As such, this can mean that they may study religious scriptures, pray or conduct any other forms of worship when they have a break period or a lunch time where they are not under the instruction of a teacher, and where their activities will not affect the activities which are taking place.

Some students who are in more mature organizations might wish to take the time to organize extra-curricular activities where students of a particular faith can gather together and worship. Such clubs are perfectly within the rules and a school must be just as accommodating of any of these clubs just as they would be with other activities that can take part in the school day. On the most part, a school has to allow these groups to get the resources which they might need in order to make such an arrangement viable, such as a classroom in which they can worship in.

However, praying in such a group might not be allowed for promotion in student literature should the leading management teams of a school see this to be the right decision to make. As a result, it could be said that the decisions regarding this form of worship are a compromise between the two parties - such as the educational body and the religious students.

Due to various events or other circumstances such as a memorial day, there can also be periods where students might be asked to remain in silence for a temporary period of time. How a student reflects in these periods is completely individual to them, and as such there is no entitlement for a teacher to instruct a student to stop praying (or indeed to pray) at this time of silence.

Another time where prayer is not legal can be at events where the student body might be graduating from their course. A lot of the time, a master of ceremonies can be invited to get involved and talk extensively to those who are involved with an event. However, they might not encourage prayer or talk from a religious perspective as this is not deemed as within the ethical boundaries as seen in previous instances of case law which have been outlined and detailed.

More Resources On School Prayer

  1. Prayer in U.S. Public Schools
  2. School Prayer
  3. Things to Consider About Prayer in Public Schools