Prayer in Schools

Each day, we can commune with our Lord - we can honor Him in praise and worship and we can
present our requests to Him for ourselves and for others. Isaiah 55 states:
6 Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

As we allow Christ to have His way in our lives, we can discover that He wants us to talk to Him and with Him - and He wants to speak to our hearts!  Through His Spirit and by His Word, we can know His direction and follow His will.  Daily and consistent prayer means that we can bring our burdens, our challenges, our decisions to Him.  We have to admit our deficiencies so that we can experience His sufficiency.  We can trust that God will show Himself faithful as we participate in the two-way communication of prayer.

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In Psalm 105, we see a snapshot of what a life that is infused with worship and prayer looks like:
3 Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!
4 Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face evermore!
5 Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,
6 O seed of Abraham His servant, You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!

There's a new information and advocacy campaign that is intended to let people know about what can and cannot be done in public schools with regard to prayer.  It's called, It Is Legal To Pray In Schools, and it represents a number of Christian, pro-family, and legal organizations.

The contention is very simple.  The website, HelpingPublicSchools.com, also accessible through LegalToPray.com, states:

For more than 50 years, Americans have been confused about the issue of prayer in school and students’ rights to pray in school. Congress never passed any law prohibiting prayer or the free exercise of religion as stated in our U.S. Constitution / First Amendment. ….. “Congress shall make no law establishing a religion or denying the FREE EXERCISE THEREOF”.

The United States Supreme Court rulings and subsequent media reporting in recent years confused school administrators, students and the general public. The Supreme Court makes no laws and has never ruled limiting prayer by students or anyone in school. Some cases have implied and ruled that teachers and administrators may not lead, coerce or force students to pray, however these rulings have nothing to do with a student’s right to free speech and individual and group prayer initiated by students. Students and teachers are free to pray at their desk, with friends, coworkers and classmates, during free time, sports activities and special events, provided it does not interfere with normal class/school activities and lessons.

On the site, Brad Dacus of Pacific Justice Institute is quoted as saying, "in every case defending students’ rights to pray, the students have prevailed, even teachers have the right to pray in school."

Under President Clinton, the Department of Education issued a memo entitled, “Religious Expression in Public Schools,” in 1995, which stated: 

“It appears that some school officials, teachers and parents have assumed that religious expression of any type is either inappropriate, or forbidden altogether, in public schools. As our courts have reaffirmed, however, nothing in the First Amendment converts our public schools into religion-free zones, or requires all religious expression to be left behind at the schoolhouse door. While the government may not use schools to coerce the consciences of our students, or to convey official endorsement of religion, the government’s schools also may not discriminate against private religious expression during the school day. "

And, surveys over the past decade show Americans are generally favorable toward prayer in schools, even school-sponsored prayer.  Here is some information from Pew Research, released in 2013:

A 2012 Pew Research Center poll found that 65% of Americans believe liberals have gone too far trying to keep religion out of schools and government. A smaller, but significant share (48%) think conservative Christians have gone too far to try to impose religious values on the country.

That article also said:

A majority of Americans disapprove of the Supreme Court’s stance on prayer in public schools, according to 2012 data from the General Social Survey, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. Asked whether they approve or disapprove of the court’s ruling that no state or local government may require the reading of the Lord’s Prayer or Bible verses in public schools, roughly 39% say they approve and about 57% say they disapprove. Those percentages have stayed relatively steady since the early 1980s.

And, a 2014 Gallup poll found: "Sixty-one percent of Americans support allowing daily prayer to be spoken in the classroom. Though still solidly above the majority level, this is down slightly from 66% in 2001 and 70% in 1999."  Also, in that survey, 75% said they favored allowing prayer at graduation ceremonies and 77% of those surveyed supported schools allowing their facilities to be used for religious groups after hours.

Coming up on September 26, students across America and around the world will be participating in See You at the Pole, with this year's theme, "Broken."  It's part of the Global Week of Student Prayer.  Regarding the legality of these gatherings, the event website stated:

The right of students to gather and pray outside of instructional time—while at school—is clearly a Constitutionally protected form of free speech. This has been affirmed in regard to "Equal Access Clubs" by the 1990 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Westside Community Schools v. Mergens. And in 1995, President Bill Clinton directed then-Secretary of Education, Richard Riley, to prepare guidelines for what the government deemed "appropriate religious expression on school grounds."

So, in consuming and considering this information, I think that we can be convinced that by and large, prayer is seen in a positive light, even in schools.  So, we don't have to be intimidated - court rulings and even public opinion are supportive of our actions.  Prayer is not something to be ashamed of or to back away from, but to embrace.  But, even if it were a practice that was frowned upon by others, that doesn't give us an excuse not to participate in this incredible opportunity to communicate with the God of the Universe.

Prayer is contained and expressed within designated events, but it is also something that can be done throughout the day - in school, in the workplace, and other public places.  Not to call attention to ourselves or be seen by others, as Jesus taught, but to maintain our sense of God's presence, to express our devotion to Him, and to help us to make sure that we are remaining in submission to His will throughout the day.

Finally, God's availability to us means that we can call on Him at any time.  And, we can adopt the  mindset of bringing our requests to Him consistently, rather than cry out to Him when our own attempts fail.  And, this Legal to Pray effort is devoted to reminding students that they can pray anytime throughout the school day - we can be encouraged to seek His face in the midst of our daily activities.