Question: Did you have prayer in school?

[leftyladyfrommo]

I had a couple of people tell me that we need to have prayer back in school.

I was in grade school in the 50's. I don't remember that we had any prayer in school. We started each day with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Now, in Salt Lake City where I was in High School we had prayer in school. I really resented it but I was pretty reactionary at that age.

[slackmaster]

1. It was outlawed in my state in 1963, just a few months before I entered school.

[TexasProgresive]

2. Sure

Before every math test!

[X_Digger]

10. Beat me to it. ;) n/t

[RKP5637]

21. LOL ... For me it was Latin! n/t

[niyad]

22. if I remember correctly, bob hope made a comment about the 1963 decision, saying, "now the

kids will have to study to pass their tests"

[Lebam in LA]

3. I started school in 1955 - No prayer n/t

[MichiganVote]

4. Yep. Mass every morning among some of the meanest women in the country.

Made you feel like if they'd had a gun, they would have shot us.

[RebelOne]

5. Yes, I was in school in the '40s and '50s

and if I remember correctly, we had to recite the lord's prayer.

[monmouth3]

26. Me too but as a Catholic I did not recite "for thine is the kingdom..etc.". What a joke..LOL..n/t

[Laura PourMeADrink]

88. I was just thinking the same thing. I remember thinking we were hot shits because we got

to stop reciting and that was really cool. Like, you would go straight to hell if you said the rest of the words.

[monmouth3]

95. Hahaha, oh my god that is the truth...LOL...n/t

[arcane1]

6. I did, in a southern baptist private school

but when I entered public school in grade 3, there was no compulsory, staff-led prayer anywhere to be found. This was the early 1970's.

[Blue_In_AK]

7. Texas.

Need I say more?

[PoliticAverse]

8. Some of us were released for a few hours (Wednesday afternoon I recall) from public school

in order to go to Catholic school for religious instruction.

This was in NYC and was called 'released time' (for background see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Released_time ).

We also had the pledge every morning with 'under God' when I was in elementary school.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

23. Not just for Catholic religious instruction

we Protestants also participated in Released Time every Wednesday (yes)

Under God was added to the pledge in 1954.

[shanti]

104. mid 60's, 6th grade, in southern california

we also had released time education. as far as i knew, it was divided between protestant and catholic. there may have been others though. we got to hang out in a trailer for a couple of hours every other week, talking about jesus. i liked it because we got out of class and got snacks, hee!

[Jennicut]

9. Hell no. I was in elementary school in the 80's. Do these idiots realize prayer in school was two

generations ago? Possibly three, if we are counting my children as a new generation. Or are the people commenting about the lack of prayer in school just really old themselves? I mean, I am hardly young at 37.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

28. Just one generation...

Prayer was banned in 1962. My son was born in 1982.... I graduated from high school in 1965.

[Jennicut]

60. The Millenials are after Generation X, which is me.

Your son is most likely a Millenial, born after 1980. Then comes my kids, who were born in the 2000's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z).

The point is, it was 50 years ago. During the time the Baby Boomers went to school. Since then, 2 generations have been in school and one is currently in elementary school. And it is not coming back. These people calling for it need to let it go.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

74. Prayer was banned in 1962....

I didn't think we would still be fighting the abortion wars either. If we have learned nothing else over the past 4 years we should have learned that nothing is sacrosanct except the damned 2nd amendment. The SCOTUS overturned 100 years of election law precedent with Citizens United, the court has been chipping away at reproductive rights and affirmative action for 20 years. Can freaking prayer be far behind?

[annabanana]

57. grade school from 1955 to 1961

The Lord's Prayer and the Pledge (without the "under God&quot

Up in Masachusetts.

[MrSlayer]

11. Yes, I went to Catholic school.

Which is probably the main reason I'm an agnostic. I saw through the bullshit in second grade.

[RKP5637]

32. I didn't go to Catholic school, but I saw through the incredible bullshit at a very

early age in Sunday School when they told me I could not come back to Sunday School if I persisted in always questioning everything. For me that was a wakeup call, like am I just supposed to open up my head and pour this crap in ... I wonder how many ignores I'll get for this ... often when I post something negative about religion on DU a get a few ignores.

[Jazzgirl]

45. I hear you.

I was on my Moms shit list when I refused to "join" church. I had been questioning since I was 5.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

37. Too funny.

My son, who used to watch Oral Roberts, Jr. on television because he liked hearing stories about Jesus, went to a Catholic high school...and came out an agnostic. I'm an atheist myself...due to an over abundance of evangelical instruction.

[peacebird]

12. Only in first grade Catholic school. After that no. 1960s

[Sekhmets Daughter]

13. Yes,

we had prayer in school when I was in grade school in the early 50s.

[RKP5637]

14. In the 50's we all had to get up and read a passage from the bible everyday. It would

start at one end of the class and rotate by one person each day. That was either before or after the pledge of allegiance, I forget the order now. That lasted for 13 years including kindergarten.

[whistler162]

15. Before every test and everytime they

gave me my report card!

Schools still do the pledge, at least the ones I work in.

[niyad]

16. only when I went to catholic school(and I also went to a number of public schools in different parts

of the country, and no prayer in any of them)

[upaloopa]

17. Yes Catholic grade school high school & college

[octoberlib]

18. We had the Pledge of Allegiance

But no prayer. And I was raised in Kansas( when it was sane).

[RKP5637]

35. A long long time ago ... n/t

[etherealtruth]

19. I went to a Catholic grade school ... so yeah

Mass every morning

[Still Sensible]

20. No. Started kindergarten in 1960 in Ohio

just the pledge of allegiance.

[duffyduff]

24. No

The only thing there was is there was a program of Bible stories kids could attend if they wanted, but it was held off school grounds during lunchtime.

I did attend it a couple of years when I was in elementary school. I enjoyed it and received free Bibles at the end of the year. Unfortunately, I lost them in storage.

[kydo]

25. nope don't remember prayer in school

1972-1984 from Michigan, Denver, Alabama, and lastly Florida. Dad was 20 years air force. And the only thing I remember is saying the pledge, dodging erasers during Mr Hefty's 6th grade class (but damn if I didn't learn my multiple table thing), lots of patriotic singing, and marching band.

The band thing paid off - I encouraged my kids to march, both did one marched drum corp and this year we just found out his corp (and him) will be marching in the presidential inaugural parade. He marches with the Boston Crusaders. He is pretty jazzed, this was his first year voting and he voted for Obama. I'm so happy for him.

[monmouth3]

30. Ooooh, I will be looking for the Boston Crusaders. Please congrat him for me. That's awesome..n/t

[kydo]

54. It's his age out year too.

Just in case - Age out year is because there is an age limit in Drum Corp, 21. He turns 21 on dec 30 so this is his last year. What a way to start your final year, play in the parade. Actually I think their plan is also to have their normal monthly camp in DC for Jan so he will be there the whole weekend. How exciting. He better take pictures or I'll be pissed.

Thanks on the congrats I will pass it along.

[llmart]

36. Band kids are the best!

But you probably already know that.

[kydo]

66. Band Geeks Rock!

[llmart]

73. yep.

I had two of them myself.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

108. Don't forget us orchestra kids!!!

FIRST Violin and piano, baby! None of this hiding in the middle range of the 2nds and violas for me. I'm a showoff. Playing an octave above the seconds, in high positions is normal for me!!

There is a definite personality difference between first and second violins. Seconds want to blend in to the accompaniment, and talk to the violas, who rarely get a solo phrase. First fiddlers are show offs. Want to grab that melody up high and SING IT LOUD!

Who, me? Finale of Shostakovich's Fifth? 1812 Overture? Finale of the New World Symphony? Pieces by crazy Russians who believe in LONG and LOUD and working the entire orchestra to death? Make all the horn players turn purple?? Bring it on.

Weirdest stuff I ever played, where I had to tap my foot so I would not get lost due to the &^%ing time signature changing all the time: Prokofief's Seventh; Rite of Spring and Firebird Suite by Stravinsky; Miraculous Mandarin Ballet Suite by Bartok. Weird stuff.....

Most of my boyfriends were fiddlers/math-engineering-physics-nerds: Viola, cello or string bass players. Community orchestras can be a real soap opera. You don't want to know the details.

[RKP5637]

40. K&R !!! n/t

[Honeycombe8]

27. Not that I recall. Just the Pledge of Allegiance (with "under God" in it). In those days....

the evangelicals were considered "others," extremists, and were generally regarded as odd, the ones in traveling tents, the Pentacostals, other extremists. People were regular Sunday-go-to-church religious. They didn't talk about it a lot. So I think praying in school wouldn't have occurred to anyone or been desired, since it was school, not church.

But references to God were normal and fine to everyone (like "under God" in the Pledge). Nativity scenes at school at Christmas were considered fine. Things like that.

[leftyladyfrommo]

29. A friend who is about 5 years older than me

and who went to school here in Kansas City said that they had prayers before convocations.

We did have prayers before convocations in Salt Lake. Course 95% of the students were Mormon so no one thought one thing about it being against the law.

In Salt Lake the students all took Religion classes each day. They all marched across the parking lot to the seminary building that was built and owned by the Mormon church. All schools had seminary buildings across the parking lot. The school bell system was also in the Seminary buildings. They actually got credit for Old and New Testament. They didn't get credit for Church History and Book of Mormon.

Salt Lake City is another world.

[Tikki]

31. NO, but we had bomb drills...

in the hallway, ducking down and covering our heads...in a way it was like being forced in paying homage
to the Military-Industrial gods.


Tikki

[RKP5637]

44. Ohhh I remember many of those. I grew up not far from a munitions plant and DOD. n/t

[truegrit44]

51. I went to public school in the 50's 60's

but was raised strict Catholic (reason I am a non believer now) This was in CA and I don't remember ever having prayer in school.

[Lokey]

33. Catholic Elementary yes, public school no

I do remember the fellowship of christian athletes as well as some sort of prayer at the flag pole. But nothing led by the school admin. They did have a prayer at our graduation.
Prayed everyday at the catholic school. Funny I can remember doing it and can picture the cross on the wall, but can't remember the prayer we said.

[PADemD]

34. Yes, until 7th grade in public school

There was always a disagreement over Catholic vs Protestant bible, and the Jehovah's Witnesses would not participate. I was glad when it stopped.

[Speck Tater]

38. Yes, in a Catholic grade school. But not after I transfered to public school. nt

[Jazzgirl]

39. I came up in the 50's and 60's and don't remember ever praying.

I don't know where this prayer "back in school" shit came from but I sure don't remember it. I also remember saying the Pledge of Allegiance without "under God".

[RKP5637]

49. Yep, I remember the day exactly when "under God" was added and our homeroom teacher having

the class practice it ...

[leftyladyfrommo]

41. Did you have prayers before games - football and basketball and such.

I think I remember those starting off with a prayer but I'm not sure. It was over 50 year's ago.

[RKP5637]

61. One half century ago ... ohhhh ... it seems so long ago. n/t

[One of the 99]

42. I went to Catholic elementary school

So yes. But I also went to public high school and no one ever stopped me from saying a private prayer.

[Warren DeMontague]

43. Tell "those people" to go screw themselves.

SOP for right wing assturds when one of these things happens is to blame a) gays b) no "God" in schools or c) both.

Remember when Pat Robertson blamed 9-11 on lesbians and atheists? Of course you do.

This sort of blather doesnt deserve a response.

[leftyladyfrommo]

53. These wer both older black men.

Here in KC the black churches are pretty conservative.

I don't think either one of these men liked Obama at all and it had to do with religion.

I asked one if he remembered having prayer in his school because I didn't remember that at all. I think he said they didn't have prayer in his school either.

So I don't know where this comes form.

[Warren DeMontague]

58. I dont care who says it, its offensive. It is offensive to blame this on church state separation

...Knee jerk, Reflexively, with zero evidence to back it up. It smacks of crass opportunism, opportunism to push a wholly unrelated agenda using the murder of 20 little kids.

Someone wants to make an asinine assertion like that to me, they need to show me some fucking evidence that "prayer in school" had diddly shit to do with any of this.

It didnt.

[beam me up scottie]

79. That's the part that chaps my ass

The Talibornagains blame us for the massacre but they're the ones using it to pushe their agenda.

Every time there is a major tragedy they blame atheists, gays, vegetarians, etc., but they absolutely revel in the bloodbath and wallow in it as long as possible.

And after the dust settles, sure enough, they've tightened their stranglehold on the country.

[Warren DeMontague]

87. I asked my wife; "why does the press treat this shit like it's some serious opinion worth airtime?"

Yes, I'd like to blame the school shooting on Skrillex. Teflon. On people who own little yip yip dogs.

See? I just pulled this assertion COMPLETELY OUT OF MY ASS. Can I get it reported on CNN?

[beam me up scottie]

93. Mr. Bmus fears for the safety of his teevee.

He has to go to work in an hour and I have to promise him I'll only watch 'The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show' reruns.

[OriginalGeek]

46. I remember my Junior High choir teacher starting each class with a moment of silence

she made it obvious she was praying silently but we were not required to participate. When I went to high school it was at a private christian school run by independent, fundamentalist baptists.

I'm an atheist now.

[Fumesucker]

47. As long as they continue to have tests and homework there will be prayer in school n/t

[ProgressiveProfessor]

48. I did. Was quite common

I went through the motions as needed.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

50. No, and I attended public schools in Minnesota and Wisconsin before the 1962 Supreme Court decision

What's more, my grandmother, who started school in Minneapolis in 1906, never had school prayer, either. Neither did my father, who grew up in a small town in northern Minnesota.

The only time I had school prayer was in kindergarten, but that was because I attended a Lutheran school that year.

I think it's important for people to state where they lived when they had school prayer. My impression is that it was mostly in the northeast (where it was a conscious attempt to convert Catholics and Jews into Protestants) and in the South.

We did sing Christmas carols in school, but that was the closest we came to religious observance.

[LiberalFighter]

68. You are right that where is important.

[llmart]

52. I honestly can't remember.

I went to public schools in a small, rural area of NE Ohio, started in first grade in 1955. I don't remember it on a daily basis or maybe it only occurred for the first couple of years, I'm uncertain. But I do remember that the times we were supposed to be praying, I would pretend My father was an atheist and taught all of us kids to never do anything just because someone tells you to do it. He said, "Be a leader and not a follower." Of course we all turned out to be liberals.

A cute anecdote: I had one brother who was only a year older than me. I was in the first grade and he was in the second and before a Christmas lunch the teachers in charge asked "Anyone who is Catholic raise your hand." I guess the lunch was on a Friday and the Catholics wouldn't be getting any meat products. So I, not knowing what the hell a Catholic was, looked down the table and saw my brother raising his hand and I thought, well, I must be Catholic, so I raised my hand." Shit. I got tuna for lunch.

[southernyankeebelle]

55. Yes in elementary school I remember saying the pledge and a morning prayer. Also

in the pledge it didn't have the words "under god" at the time. By the way I remember while living in PA on Fridays we use to march down to the catholic school for catechism and the protestant kids stayed at the school. I use to have that. By the way we had no lunch room either and we had to walk home for lunch and come back and that was a very long walk. Four times a day. that was back in the early 50s. Of course then it was safe to walk in these little towns. Not today. Honestly I don't think prayer in school has anything to do with anything. In fact I am beginning to think all that is evil happens because of religion. I dunno the world is really screwie.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

56. No, and I started school in 1952.

I don't ever remember having prayers at any of my schools (public schools in WI and MN).

[Thor_MN]

59. No. Late 60's early 70's.

There was a Bomarc surface to air missile base less than a mile from my grade school. 12 Hiroshima's worth of warheads in the woods just South of the school. Maybe we should have been, but we didn't and the missiles were gone before I hit 6th grade.

[onehandle]

62. Catholic school, 60s and 70s, so yes. nt

[WhoIsNumberNone]

63. No prayer per se-

But up through 3rd grade they had us say grace every day before we went to lunch.
Also my 2nd grade teacher was a church lady who started every day off by reading us a Bible story.

[Nika]

64. I had prayer until the second grade, then the SCOTUS ruling changed everything.

I appreciated the prayers leaving.

[richmwill]

65. In first and second grade, when I went to Catholic school, yes. Otherwise, no. (n/t)

[JHB]

67. Yes, but it was a Catholic school...

...so it came with the territory under any circumstances.

[hifiguy]

69. Nope, and neither did my mom, who grew up in a small town

in northwest Minnesota. She was born in 1922 and thought school prayer was the dumbest thing she ever heard of.

[bigwillq]

70. No

I went to public school.
If a parent or child wants prayer in school, they can go to a parochial school.

[tj_crackersnatch]

71. Public school education

In nocal early 60s. Just the flag of allegiance and the occasional bomb drills

[MadrasT]

72. I was in grade school in the 70's and no.

This was in a very rural, conservative, and overwhelmingly Christian section of Pennsylvania, where everybody but me went to church, and there was no intersection between school and religion. It just was not done.

It wasn't allowed, it wasn't appropriate, and everybody knew it.

[LeftInTX]

75. Currently in San Antonio student led invocation at graduation

It may or may not refer to God, whatever the student chooses.

[XemaSab]

76. We had prayer in chapel on Wednesdays

Episcopal school. Good times.

[jzola]

77. We didn't pray and we didn't pledge. We'd just been through WWII. We didn't have to prove anything

[brokechris]

78. I had it.

I was raised in the deep south and attended schools throughout the bible belt. The way it was always done (at the half dozen schools I attended) was that we had 5 minutes set aside before we recited the pledge.

No one recited a formal prayer. During the allotted time, we all had to sit at our desks and be quiet. We were allowed to do whatever we wished (it was basically a quiet time for meditation). I was non-religious and usually used the time to get organized or do last minute homework. I remember occasionally seeing people with their heads down on the desk probably praying--and I remember one girl who was very upset in her prayers after a beloved pet died (crying noticeably as she prayed). It did not scar me at all, and as it was practiced in the places I went to school--I have absolutely no objection.

[kestrel91316]

80. K-2: public school for military dependents in Japan (1962-65)- nope, no prayer.

Grades 3-5: public school in NY (1966-68) - nope, no prayer

Grade 6: public school in CO (1969) - nope again

Grades 7-9: public school in UT (1970-72) - still not a word of prayer ever

Grades 10-11: public school in OH (1973-74) - yet again no prayer

Then I went to university. And then graduate school. And then entered a medical profession, and have owned my own business for 25 years.

Proof that we need prayer in school.

[LiberalFighter]

81. In first grade in a small village near Baraboo, Wisconsin no prayer - 1960 About 120 population

From 1-4 in a small town of 1772 east of Green Bay on the lake. No prayer. Don't even remember an organized prayer after JFK was shot during my last year there.

From 4-8 in a city of about 35,000 in southern Wisconsin. Prayer Prayer Prayer Prayer Prayer. Of course, I was attending a parochial school then.

From 9-12 in the city. Public high school. No prayer. And we had home class before our regular classes started.

[SteveG]

82. Yes

We had to say the Lord's Prayer, Read from the KJV and Pledge Allegiance to the Flag. This was from 1955 to 1963. State law mandated the content of the opening exercises that went on in every classroom across the State.

[Locut0s]

83. No thank god (no pun intended) but then I'm Canadian...

The whole concept has always seemed really alien to me and anyone I've talked to up here. We don't have any patriotic stuff like the pledge allegiance either.

I was raised atheist and have always felt comfortable here as one.

[Liberalynn]

84. I went to Catholic School in the 60's

so yes we had prayers. It didn't make for better more respectful children and neither did corporal punishment we experienced there either.

That is why those that argue that we need to bring prayer in additon to the ones who want to bring back corporal punishment in schools "to create a better more healthy society" tick me off. IMHO they are both BS.

We had a group of boys in my class who were total bullies and thugs. They got caught shoplifting, they were in fights all the time, they would have had guns if they could have gotten their hands on them I am sure. One boy in my class used to tell anyone who listened he wished he could get back at one of the teachers who beat us, by that method.

Several of them were arrested in later life for Drug sales, drug use, violence, theft etc At least one boy in another class was convicted of murder. So were they better less violent people just cause they prayed. NO.

We had one girl who was equally as tough. She got arrested too in later life.

I am not making this up either.

That is not even counting the number who though they never turned violent, ended up with mental health issues. The majority of us fell into this catagory.

Now given I doubt Catholic Schools are like that now, and not all fo them were like that then but just speaking from my own experience prayer didn't do a damn bit of good there and neither did corporal punishment.

Just my experience and my feelings based on it.

[union_maid]

85. I was also in grade school in the 50's

For the most part, no. Every Friday was assembly day. It's very vague in my mind now, but I think there might have been a non-denomimational something or other - prayer or benediction or something. I went to public school in NYC then. Very diverse population in school.

[sakabatou]

86. Only when I was in Hebrew school.

[Liberalynn]

89. The moment of silence is something I never objected to.

Those who want to pray could pray, and others could use it to daydream or just have a moment of mindfulness to take deep breaths.

[Flabbergasted]

90. Didn't protect this church...

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Ratzmann

Pure talking point and distraction.

[NYC Liberal]

91. Yep - Catholic school from 4th grade thru 12th.

[tularetom]

92. Public schools in Tennessee from 1947 to 1952

Not only did we recite the Lord's Prayer every morning but all students rotated through the reading of bible verses.

In the 5th grade we moved to Bakersfield CA and the routine was almost the same excepting the bible readings.

In the 9th grade I entered HS in Visalia CA and - VIOLA - no more prayers or bible readings atall.

[Lugnut]

94. Yes.

I too was in grade school in the 50s. We said The Lord's Prayer every morning. In high school we said the 23rd Psalm. I graduated in 1963. If memory serves school prayer was banned around that time.

[no_hypocrisy]

96. Not exactly

In 1962-63 I was in kindergarten and our teacher taught us a little ditty called "Angel Watching Over Me". No prayer though.

[B Calm]

97. I started school in 1956, no prayers

were allowed! Back then they believed in the separation of church and state. . .

[OnionPatch]

98. Yes.

I attended public gradeschool in the late sixties in rural Ohio. I distinctly remember saying the pledge and the Lord's Prayer every morning in the early years but later on, they faded away. Maybe they stopped it by then.

[Arugula Latte]

99. Nope, thankfully.

California (Bay Area) public schools in the 70s and 80s. The only thing I remember was one over-zealous teacher who was a very enthusiastic sponsor of Young Life and would subtley pressure us to go to the meetings. I was afraid it was going to affect my grade, but I got As without going to those stupid meetings.

[GreenStormCloud]

100. Yes. In school 1952 to 1964.

It wasn't any big deal.

[Atman]

101. I'm 53. Never, ever had prayer in school.

I even went to St. Peters. We had penmanship classes, but not prayer. If I choose to write to Jesus, my letter will be very neat.

[Jamastiene]

102. Every single time there was a health test that involved

any physical activity in the gym, I prayed hard, really hard. I knew others who literally stood in prayer circles and held hands before math tests. I felt so sorry for them. I was fine with the math. It was gym that always did me in. I have spina bifida and still had to do the one exercise I hated most, because it was not a contact activity.

I hated doing that thing where they make you pull your entire body weight up to a metal bar, then put your chin on the bar, then hang there for a minute or two. The longest minutes in school, for me, were those minutes. Damn Raygun and his Arnold Schwarzenegger designed physical fitness program.

Why couldn't we just play basketball and run? Why'd we have to do something as painful as that stupid chin up thing? To this day, I pray I never have to go back to school...at least not one that requires that painful chin up crap. Of course, I wasn't allowed to play the basketball because it was considered a contact sport. Damn spina bifida kept me from ever being allowed to go to Carrowinds too. But, by God, I had to do those damn chin ups. They always made my entire body shake uncontrollably for some odd reason. :cringe:

[TeeYiYi]

105. I went to high school in Salt Lake City ...

...and there was NO prayer in the public high schools unless you're talking about Seminary which was off campus and only attended by Mormon kids.

The private Catholic schools may have had prayer but there were definitely no prayers in the public schools.

TYY

[bluestateguy]

106. Me, no.

But I had other friends who swear that they did have formal school prayers in their schools in other states, and this would have been in the 1980's, after the USSC ruled that it had to stop.

[cynatnite]

107. Yes, we had a battle ax of a teacher...

who began every day with prayer and she would read from the bible. She was an awful woman who disciplined children as if they were her own. I've seen her take her ruler to kids' hands and a couple of times she actually spanked in class, too.

This was in 2nd grade and was also in the early 70's.

We were all frightened of her. That I remember clearly. Her name was Mrs. Luther.

[Initech]

109. We had a Christian Alliance club at my school but outside of that nobody gave a shit.

It's only closed-minded morons like Huckabee that do give a shit if prayer is allowed in public schools or not.

[JDPriestly]

110. We had prayer in school. I remember how I squirmed in high school homeroom at the time for

reading the scripture. The teacher let the class know that she was an atheist. She also reminded me frequently of the fact that I was a minister's daughter by asking me to read the scripture.

I was extremely, extremely shy. I was living in the South and had a Northern accent. The scripture moment was utterly humiliating and painful to me. I was so shy I could not even read my own essays in class. And there I was, being picked to read the scripture over and over.

I do not like having prayer in school. The very religious kids and the irreligious are separated by prayer in the schools. And it has nothing to do with the things we learn at school.

I think though that teachers should discuss moral issues like showing respect and kindness for others. Those are values that are shared by the religious and not religious. Regardless what the religion of the teacher is, he or she can teach values that are shared in all religions. It unites the kids and is much healthier than separating kids with religious teachings. And inevitably religion in the schools does separate the kids, the Catholics from the Protestants, the Episcopalians from the Jehovah's Witness.

So I do not support prayer in the schools or any reading other than the study of the Bible and other religious texts as literature.