Prayer in public schools

What I'm thinking, Metallion, and I do admit that I haven't heard anything about it for a long time, is that many school systems were banning students from participating in Bible study groups on school property...on their own time. Christmas and Easter breaks have been renamed "Winter" and "Spring" break, removing the regilious associations from these holidays by the school systems. As far as your idea of changing the dates, good luck with that one since those dates are specified in teacher's union contracts. The members would have to vote to change them. Changing the days that schools are closed during the week would not be objected to primarily based on religious beliefs either, but rather on the likelihood of childcare problems for working parents.

I so agree, Spalladino. Where is the ACLU when you really need them?

@spalladino: So, you're thinking no more Christmas, Easter, and Sunday off? The only reason those days off exist is to make special provisions to accommodate Christian religious observances. If you think there's a secular purpose in a winter and spring break, I can work with that, but how about we shift them a week or two so that they don't take place during Christian holidays? How about Wednesdays and Thursdays off instead of Saturday and Sunday?

What memo is that?

It starts out saying, "considerable misunderstanding among some segments of the media and ideological advocacy groups regarding the district’s efforts to provide diversity of educational ... and to accommodate the religious faith..."

This is the issue with government funded mandatory education - it is impossible to teach without advocating a particular moral stance. In this case, the school system appears to be making preferential allowances for Muslim students. In other cases, the government educators promote ideological stances on the environment, personal propery rights, etc. which may run counter to the parents' own views. It is time to end the indoctrination program of government schools and completely privatize education.

gewcew, I'm not sure what portion of the public arena you are referring to; many people decorate their homes. I personally do not, but the issue is in the schools where, for years the ACLU has forbidden prayer, even "nondenominational" prayer until this Muslim exception. At college commencements, and even at elementary levels students are forbidden to thank Jesus for their blessings. And, again, we must say "Happy Holidays" and Winter Break. The Ten Commandments have even been removed from some courtrooms.

People pray in school every single day, perfectly legally. What they don't and can't do is use the school's power or authority to make that prayer into an official school act by being part of any school function. The Ten Commandments don't belong on a court room wall. Some of the ten commandments are themselves unconstitutional and not a part of our legal system.

Metallion, As I've pointed out earlier, initially all our most noted universities were established in order for us to study and learn about God. Education had a moral base. Today, with the secularization of education, and all of society, as education mirrors societal norms and values (or lack thereof), we have lost that moral base. Thus, we have lost our safety and blessings, ordained by God re our country and Constitution. And we ourselves are lost, having lost this moral compass. It's not about "religion" per se, but rather having a theistic or atheistic view of the universe and a theistic or atheistic morality, e.g., God v Satan, God or Self, good v. evil. Obviously this is too big for the discussion I've started here, but it is at its base. The issue here is the specific allowance made for specific "religion" that is not routed in our tradition AND is specifically designated, as are ALL religions in this country at this time, as not allowed to be practiced in the school setting. Why is an exception made for Muslim religious practice IN school, and no other? Why ever? And, why ever, is the ACLU, which has knocked Judeo-Christian prayer out of the schools strangely silent? Non-denominational prayer was allowed in school when I was in elementary school. It was only in the morning and consisted of a single Bible Psalm. It set the tone for the day, as opposed to the tone set today by the blaring, dysphonic tone of rock music that greets many students today first thing in the morning.