religion in school

The government cannot limit someone's rights unless those rights actively infringe on someone else's. If a student wants to pray, by all means they can. A government instituion sponsoring prayer, that's a fine, fine line.

Yes, it is not the highest law in the land, however the first amendment is, and that says, "nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof" As of right now, students are not allowed to pray at football games, or freely pray at their own graduation. In the case Jane Doe v. Santa Fe, a student was elected by her classmates to pray at their graduation. The Supreme Court said that she could on the condition that she did not refer to Jesus. "Make no mistake", they said, "A U.S Marshall will be in attendance and if anyone offends the court they shall be arrested and face 6 months incarceration". the early 1960's a court case came up called Settle v. Dickenson. A girl was given an assignment to do a research paper on any topic. She chose to write about Jesus Christ and because of that she was given a 0%. This doesn't make sense. It seems like the Supreme Court has forgotten the second part of the amendment. Mike Huckabee described it perfectly this morning on Meet the Press. He said it was government that needed to be restricted, not faith.

It really doesn't matter what those men said in there personal lives. George Washington also said that good government can only come from that which is driven by God. But that still isn't the doctrine of our country. You need to only look to the Constitution to find the only maxim that mattered--"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibting the free practice thereof".

Sure, those guys said those things--but they weren't the only people at the Convention. The Document was a negotiation and a realization of the best kind of government.

Their personal statements are not the highest law in the land.

now which god are you talkin about? u realize in this country, there are many faiths... are you basically saying we should preach in skools 2 non crhistians?

impactyourworld, it seems needless to say that social circumstances have changed greatly in the last 200 years. That logic is no longer relevant to the situations regularly encountered in an average classroom. If you have students from 3 different religious backgrounds it would be highly unethical to teach a class that would damn a percentage of them for believing what they were raised to believe. A child's morals must be enforced at home, and ethics enforced in the classroom.

Gouverneur Morris, the penman for the Constitution said, "Religion is the only solid basis for good morals. Therefore, education should teach of religion and the duties of man toward God".
Fisher Aimes, the writer of the first amendment said, "The Bible should not only remain in schools, but it should be the primary textbook"

While he is not a founding father, Abraham Lincoln made a wonderful point worth noting. He realized that what we teach children will effect our nation forever. He said, "The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next"

I would add something, but I don't have much to add. I guess this is the debate version of a TKO ;)

Oh, there's another round? Woops... hope they pick it back up!

On, one hand I have two sentences and a forfeited round. On the other, I have two paragraphs and a forfeited round aswell... well...

That's precisely why I only advocated it as an elective. I don't think religious education in public schools should ever be used to persuade, only to inform. If a student decides to pursue it further or even to convert, they are welcome to, but that should never be the intent of the course.

Aremis