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The Session: BONUS EPISODE: Prayer in Schools, EXTENDED CONVERSATION
The Session: The Importance of Prayer in Schools, & the importance of prayer in general
I’m thinking we talk about this, but you bring in the psychological impact of prayer on the mind, the body, the spirit.
The most enduring and controversial issue related to school-sponsored religious activities is classroom prayer. In Engel v. Vitale (1962), the Supreme Court held that the Establishment Clause prohibited the recitation of a school-sponsored prayer in public schools.
Freedom Forum Institute: Students are free to pray alone or in groups, as long as such prayers are not disruptive and do not infringe upon the rights of others. But this right “to engage in voluntary prayer does not include the right to have a captive audience listen or to compel other students to participate.” (This is the language supported by a broad range of civil liberties and religious groups in a joint statement of current law.)
What the Supreme Court has repeatedly struck down are state-sponsored or state-organized prayers in public schools.
The Supreme Court has made clear that prayers organized or sponsored by a public school — even when delivered by a student — violate the First Amendment, whether in a classroom, over the public address system, at a graduation exercise, or even at a high school football game.
From Heritage Foundation, in an article by Sarah Parshall Perry:
Coach Joe Kennedy didn’t intend to make a spectacle of himself or set an example. When he began a tradition in 2008 of offering a quiet, midfield prayer after Bremerton High School football games, he surely never thought that he’d be standing on the steps of the Supreme Court in June 2022 after a seven-year battle to regain his job.
The Court has now handed Kennedy a victory, holding that the Bremerton School District in Washington state violated the First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses by firing Kennedy for his personal, quiet post-game prayers.
The ruling is significant not just because it reinforces the First Amendment protections guaranteed to government employees, but because it strengthens our nation’s increasingly shaky commitment to pluralism—having diverse religious views or no religious view at all and coexisting in society.
Heritage Foundation, in a report by Jay Greene, PHD and James Paul, “Equity Elementary: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Staff in Public Schools”
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Chief diversity officers (CDOs), who typically advance a leftist agenda, are spreading beyond college campuses and becoming more common in K–12 districts.
CDOs are prevalent in large school districts—employed in nearly 79 percent of districts with 100,000 or more students—and are expanding in rural districts.
While CDOs are ostensibly hired to help close student achievement gaps, evidence shows that CDOs may increase gaps between white and minority students.
From Pure Flix Insider:
GEORGE WASHINGTON: ON GOD AND LOVE
"I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large..." -
Washington is speaking about the governors of the new United States. He encourages people, through God, to show love and obedience and to "entertain a brotherly affection."
THOMAS JEFFERSON: INTRIGUE OVER JESUS
To reach Tom Russell, go to https://www.heritagechristiancounselingofmansfield.com.
View all episodes
By Tom Russell & Scott SaundersThe Session: The Importance of Prayer in Schools, & the importance of prayer in general
I’m thinking we talk about this, but you bring in the psychological impact of prayer on the mind, the body, the spirit.
The most enduring and controversial issue related to school-sponsored religious activities is classroom prayer. In Engel v. Vitale (1962), the Supreme Court held that the Establishment Clause prohibited the recitation of a school-sponsored prayer in public schools.
Freedom Forum Institute: Students are free to pray alone or in groups, as long as such prayers are not disruptive and do not infringe upon the rights of others. But this right “to engage in voluntary prayer does not include the right to have a captive audience listen or to compel other students to participate.” (This is the language supported by a broad range of civil liberties and religious groups in a joint statement of current law.)
What the Supreme Court has repeatedly struck down are state-sponsored or state-organized prayers in public schools.
The Supreme Court has made clear that prayers organized or sponsored by a public school — even when delivered by a student — violate the First Amendment, whether in a classroom, over the public address system, at a graduation exercise, or even at a high school football game.
From Heritage Foundation, in an article by Sarah Parshall Perry:
Coach Joe Kennedy didn’t intend to make a spectacle of himself or set an example. When he began a tradition in 2008 of offering a quiet, midfield prayer after Bremerton High School football games, he surely never thought that he’d be standing on the steps of the Supreme Court in June 2022 after a seven-year battle to regain his job.
The Court has now handed Kennedy a victory, holding that the Bremerton School District in Washington state violated the First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses by firing Kennedy for his personal, quiet post-game prayers.
The ruling is significant not just because it reinforces the First Amendment protections guaranteed to government employees, but because it strengthens our nation’s increasingly shaky commitment to pluralism—having diverse religious views or no religious view at all and coexisting in society.
Heritage Foundation, in a report by Jay Greene, PHD and James Paul, “Equity Elementary: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Staff in Public Schools”
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Chief diversity officers (CDOs), who typically advance a leftist agenda, are spreading beyond college campuses and becoming more common in K–12 districts.
CDOs are prevalent in large school districts—employed in nearly 79 percent of districts with 100,000 or more students—and are expanding in rural districts.
While CDOs are ostensibly hired to help close student achievement gaps, evidence shows that CDOs may increase gaps between white and minority students.
From Pure Flix Insider:
GEORGE WASHINGTON: ON GOD AND LOVE
"I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large..." -
Washington is speaking about the governors of the new United States. He encourages people, through God, to show love and obedience and to "entertain a brotherly affection."
THOMAS JEFFERSON: INTRIGUE OVER JESUS
To reach Tom Russell, go to https://www.heritagechristiancounselingofmansfield.com.