Seperation of church and state

The phrase separation of church and state is generally traced to the letter written by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 to the Danbury Baptists, in which he referred to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as creating a "wall of separation" between church and state.

When they created it they had the intention for the church to be seperate from the state because they didn't want a monarchy ruleing America.

Over the years our government has corrupted that and taken it to an extreme buy saying you cant pray in school. (There are other things that you can't do, but i dont remember any off the top of my head)

Do you think the government has taken this to far? Do you think that the government should "loosen up"?


Edit: I am not saying that the government should rule our country on a religous basis, but that they are taking away some of our freedom by saying we can't do certain things in certain places.

Yes I dont want the president to rule with religion in mind. Since there are so many religions, every president would be different and each one would have different ideas on how to rule our country.

 

If they did that then it would disrupt the consitution.
People have the right to do what they want, when they want.
People cannot just seperate people.

 

I think that not being able to pray in school is stupid but i dont think its good for the state to join with a particular Religion.

 

I am not saying they should impliment a monarchy. You would be surprised to know about the affect religion had on our country. That was one of the main reasons the left England. They did not want a government that would kill you if you worked on a sunday...

I am saying why is against the rules to pray in school?

 

The "rules" of a school are determined by the State constitutions and education policy.

At many private schools, the "rules" are strictly determined by that private school. So if a private school requires their children to pray, they can do so. (Though this may not be true in all cases).

At a public school; however, the school is governed by the state. Although I doubt one could get "detention" for praying at school; the topic itself is very touchy.

A hypothetical situation.

Imagine if a group of children started their own "inter-faith prayer" group. A collection of kids who all believe in the same faith and pray at lunch time. As time goes on, the group starts to become bigger and bigger. Other kids, who do not believe in this particular faith, may feel left out. As a result, they may start praying simply because "all their friends are doing it." Even worse, some kids could get an argument with others over the "superior" religion. Kids start to fued over their praying "play-grounds" (territory). They start complaining to their parents that Josh claimed Muslims are terrorists, Jews killed Jesus, and all the Atheists will "burn in a lake of fire." As you can imagine the parents will become infuriated and demand to know why the school allowed such conduct to take place. Some may even wish Josh to be punished; but truthfully, he was only speaking his mind. So who's to blame? The school.

It's clear that a lot of things could go wrong; furthermore, the school would be the one to suffer. Our educational system is poorly funded as it is, (teacher's getting paid next to nothing, large classrooms, old materials, etc) in our sue-happy nation, our schools do not need more liabilites. The best way to avoid these problems is to abolish religion from the public schools. Hence a seperation of church and state.

 

First of all these are kids... And religion usually isnt considered "cool"

Parents cant blame a school for that.

What difference does it make if a kid came home to tell his parents that another kid told him "Your going to go to hell" compared to "Your mom is dirty whore"?

 

Uhm, it depends what school district you go to I assume?
Its not against the rules to pray in my school..
Well I doubt were aloud to pray in the middle of a class lesson,
but in our spare time (Lunch, between classes, etc.)

 

Do you go to public or private?

 

And that means what? You think children are all nice? Please...

Click Here to see what happened to one girl because of her "religious" indifference.

This has nothing to do with what I said. If a kid sees all his friends praying in school, and realizes he is the only one left out, he may start praying not because it is "cool" but because he wishes to participate in acitivity with his friends. I listed a ton of other problems in the previous post as well.

They can, and in fact do. If the school is "promoting" (even in a passive manner) a religious bias, they can be sued.

One student filed a law suit because his art teacher censored his "religious" picture. The Story is here

Religion in schools is problematic. Hence, the seperation of church and state.

 

Sounds like it was the schools own fault not the kids. And i dont see how this would be any different if there was no seperation?

Idk what i am saying i am tired... i will think more tomorrow. Goodnight.

 

It was the kids who taunted the child and ridiculed her for her own beliefs. Had the school not promoted such a religious affiliation, the girl would have ben spared the verbal abuse and public humilation. If there was seperation the entire concept of the Virgin Mary would not be included in any school play.

Hence, the seperation of Church and State.

 

Its ment to be a free country, therefore it has been taken too far.

 

The government has not banned individuals from praying in school, they have banned school-sanctioned prayer.

You can pray if you wish.

That really wasn't a significant reason, at all.

It's not.

They don't prevent you from praying.

 

you think religion wasnt a significant reason they left?

 

I was speaking about the American revolution, my mistake.

 

I dont know about the US, but in Canada, I believe you have a right to practice any religion you wish in any way, as long as it does not infringe upon the rights of others. You have every right to pray in school, as long as you are not discriminating against other religious beliefs, hurting others, etc.

And just a short question from the uninformed Canadian;

If the US political system is so segregated from their differing religious beliefs, why does your currency have "In God we Trust" on it? Or is this just an anachronism that has remained despite political change?