Prayer in school

Not guided prayer, no. I kind of like the moment of silence, because then you can pray to whatever deity or deities you choose, or not pray at all if you choose. However, having guided prayer of a specific religion in school is wrong because school is not a place kids go to learn religion. It's the parent's job to teach a child about religious beliefs, not a teacher's. Moreoever, who are you going to pray to if you pray in school? When I was a child, I had teachers that would try to push religion on us at school. I didn't know then that it was illegal (because the school system isn't going to teach you that they're doing something wrong), so there was nothing I could do about it as far as I knew. I even got in trouble for refusing to participate when they tried to force me to pray to a "God" that wasn't my own.

I most certainly do ! A person once asked me after the Columbine school Killings "why God didnt stop it from happening ?" the only answer I could give him was "how could he stop it he isnt allowed in our schools"!

Not mandatory or forced, but if students want to pray I think that's fine.

Absolutely not. I went to a pre-school where we had to say a short prayer before lunch. It seemed harmless, just a thank you Jesus for this food. My problem arose when my best friend, a young Jewish girl, would not say the prayer no matter how much she was coerced. I also refused to support her. This lead to playground beating and we were completely ostracised by the other students. The teachers encouraged this. No matter how much you try to be non-dominationel the dominate religion will creep in. Prayer has no place in school.

yes, I think ALL religions should be allowed to pray in schools. I also think children should be taught prayers of all the world religions.

No, prayer absolutely should NOT be a part of school. I wouldn't mind giving kids a "free time" or "reflection time" to do whatever they choose - pray, meditate, let their imagination roam free, it doesn't matter. But prayer should NOT be incorporated in schools, as well as religious indocrinations of any kind. Why can't religions be content with indocrinating their children OUTSIDE schools? Let the schools be a place for learning about the real world, nothing else.

I think people should be ALLOWED to pray and discuss their religious/spiritual beliefs in school. But, I don't think they should be forced to pray if they don't want to.

No, school should be open to all religion should it not? The time where non-christians were tortured into convertion arev way pased, and I'm glad for that.

I know this much - As long as there are tests; there WILL be prayer in school!!! In my school we had a moment of silence. A minute or so we could think, pray, whatever. I wouldn't oppose to that.