quote:

Originally posted by Wolfie:
You go to church to effing pray why do you need to do it EVERYWHERE??? pray on your own time. i don't want any of my time wasted on you even if its 3 damn minutes. If you want pray in school go to a religious one... DURR.

and besides, why do you think satanism is illegal? that would violate the first amendment.

I believe she's referring to the violent cults as opposed to the majority of the religion. Any religion is allowed as along as it violates no other laws.

Such as the one in Florida; most satanists do not torture people or animals, thoughthey did. :P

Prayer is allowed in school. If you want to pray you can as long as it is not disruptive. HOWEVER, a teacher or official cannot LEAD a prayer nor can prayer be mandatory.

You go to church to effing pray why do you need to do it EVERYWHERE??? pray on your own time. i don't want any of my time wasted on you even if its 3 damn minutes. If you want pray in school go to a religious one... DURR.

and besides, why do you think satanism is illegal? that would violate the first amendment.

Yes prayer should be allowed at school there is no reason at all to ban prayer from school and besides there is freedom of religion in this country.

zzyzxm, it's allowed off-reservation as well.

Okay, I see kat. I get it. Thanks for clearing that up.

Peyote is allowed because because it represents a freedom of religion issue. To make a long story short, it fits into the "free practice" clause. The courts have a test that determines which is more important, the upholding of the law, or the right to practice religion. In this case, and with most cases, the right to practice religion is more important, because that is the founding basis of our country, and we take it very seriously.

Well, as I understand, Reservations are semi-independent and have their own laws, hence why gambling is legal there.

(Although there may be some exception like they are subject to federal, but not state law,but I am not sure).

And Satanism almost never has sacrifices (in case some weren't aware)

Well, then how come the "Native American Church" is allowed? They take Peyote (an illegal drug) until they pass out/hallucinate. They're still allowed. The government has ruled that they may use peyote for religious purposes only. But they still can use it, because of the freedom of religion law.

In response to the Satanism exception...

In 1993, the Supreme Court ruled that, while we do have the freedom to choose our religion, we must not violate any laws in the practice of said religion. This was decided in CHURCH OF LUKUMI BABALU AYE v. CITY OF HIALEAH (508 U.S. 520), where the Church was practicing ritual animal sacrifices which violated the Florida law that stated that animals could only be slaughtered in licensed slaughterhouses (or something very similar to that...it's been like 2 years since I studied this case).

So basically, you can be a member of whatever religion you want, you just can't necessarily participate in all of the behavioral aspects of it.

Foist thing's foist. What a double standard! I really don't think that Satanism's a good thing, but they have just as much right as anyone else. Sheesh!

Secondly, I don't think that there's a big problem. People are allowed to pray in school!

I had one teacher who I had a problem with. She told me that I wasn't allowed to read my Bible (or my Book of Mormon) during silent reading time. I mean, it's free reading time. What's wrong with me reading a book that I think is true. My dyslexic brother and sister half learned to read FROM the Bible and Book of Mormon.

This teacher also told me that saying grace silently to myself before lunch wasn't acceptable in a school setting. She caught me at it. I was still young, and when you're younger you sort of think that you have to fold your arms and move your lips when you're praying. I've since learned that you can pray without all that and no one even knows.

I pray all the time in public. And I haven't had trouble since that teacher (third grade).

I am from a tiny school and we have Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter services at school. We always pray at the end. Well the minister that just spoke does anyway. I do not find it as a big deal. Actually I think it is pretty cool that we can do that.

I have no problem with people praying in school. As an Aetheist I see no point in it, but what you spend your time talking/praying to isn't my buisiness. At my school we don't even have morning announcements to have prayer during, but if we did we wouldn't have prayer. My schools some weird0 "new-agey" place.

quote:

This country says you're allowed to practice any religion you want.(except satanism)

Why is it that you can't practice satanism? I'm pretty sure you can, actually.

I don't find a problem with moments of silence. They're actually extremely relaxing. My middle school in Texas did that every morning, and it was a welcome reprieve. I was rather religious then, so I prayed for the strength to go through the day (or something similar). Now, if my high school has a moment of silence, I simply think about what I need to do throughout the school day and what I might have afterward. Of course, we don't often have moments of silence. I can't think of any time we did. Oh well.

I went to public school for K-12 and we did have a few select "moments of silence" for "personal prayer, thought or reflection"...no one in my school ever objected to that. Examples of these times were when we had deaths of teachers or students and 9/11.

of course sir

Good teamwork.

...they'll get it someday

Just keep hammering the point home...

What part of "you can pray in school" don't you people understand? I know people who pray before every test! It's not disallowed, trust me.

personal private prayer in school--should be allowed

faculty led class prayer--should not be allowed

why? because otherwise there would be chaos due to conflict of beliefs. plus, the constitution protects "freedom of religion" which also means the freedom to NOT be religious.