Amen: Does Prayer Play An Important Role In Our Lives Today? :: essays research papers

Amen Does Prayer Play An Important Role In Our Lives Today?Does prayer play an important persona in our lives today? The minoritywould say no and that prayer shouldnt ever have played an important role in oursociety. But, the simple fact of the numerate is that for hundreds of years,prayer in school has been encouraged by both society and establishment. In recentyears, it has been established that prayer in schools has led to a pie-eyed moraldecline. Morals must be taught, in school and at home, and they cannot beproperly taught without religion as a much needed stepping stone.Our government was based upon religious beliefs from the very beginning.The Declaration of Independence says We hold these truths to be self-evident,that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by God with sureunalienable rights. . . Certainly, it talks about God, creations, God-givenmoral rights, the providence of God, and the final Day of Judgment-all of whichare religious teachings. And school prayer has been an important part of ourreligious pick up from the very beginning.Our very First Amendment didnt separate God and government but actuallyencouraged religion. It reads Congress shall make no law respecting theestablishment of religion, nor veto the free exercise thereof, (Encarta96). The first part simply says that the federal government cannot establishone religion for all of the people. The simple idea of everyone in our republicbeing limited to one form of religion is inconceivable. The second sectioninsists that the government should do nothing to discourage religion. Butforbidding prayer in schools discourages religion, doesnt it?Early congressional actions encouraged religion in public schools. Forexample, the Northwest Treaty (1787 and 1789) declared Religion, morality,and knowledge being necessary for good government and the blessedness of mankind,schools, and the means of learning shall forever be encouraged (Encarta 96).By seeing this, religion, which i ncludes prayer, was deemed to be necessary.Congress has prayed at the opening of every session since the very beginning.By acknowledging these facts we ask the simple question, If the government canpray in their sessions, why cant the governed pray in their (school)sessions?Public schools had prayer for nearly 200 years onward the Supreme Courtruled that state-mandated class prayers were unconstitutional in Engel vs.Vitale in 1962 (Buckley 70). How could this trail have such a huge impact onour terra firma and ultimately alter how we perceive our constitution? The fact thatprayer was practiced for nearly 200 years alone establishes it by example as a