I've never heard of school prayers before but if it is what I think it is I'm obviously against it, except for when for instance religious groups from that school go on excursions (??) to religious places (like jews going to a monastery etc).

if so they should be allowed to pray together if they want i dont give a shit. but at a school?? never ever heard of that before, just too absurd

Schools in America used to do group prayer and up until the turn of the century there were still schools (like deep south red state schools) that did group prayers or the teacher would pick a student to say a prayer and anyone could join in.  You had the choice not to join in but they were the minority and often subject to ridicule and animosity (one of the reasons the moment of silence was instituted so you could do whatever the fuck you wanted regardless of your devotion/lack thereof). 

Ironically (or maybe not really ironic but just something interesting to note) the military universally recognizes a monotheistic non-denominational universal deity also known as God.  I say this because the military has chaplains for literally every monotheistic religion but in keeping with "tradition" it recognizes a supreme being that is simply known as "God."  Often during ceremonies they'll say "Let us pray..." and everyone bows their heads, waits 10 seconds, then they say "Amen."  It means absolutely jack shit and no one says an actual prayer, but I just think it's really humorous that our government openly recognizes a faceless blank slate that could possibly be a reference to America herself.

I don't know. I mean you could argue that then, people could force you to go to church, and its okay because they don't force you to listen to the preacher.
I mean sure its not nearly as bad as that, but still its the same way of thinking.

It's 60 seconds of quiet.  I don't think you're American but I'll fill in anyone who isn't on how it works.

At the start of school you say the pledge of allegiance (Virginia ruled a few years ago that standing for the pledge was no longer mandatory; only an American will understand the relevance of that statement and I bold VIRGINIA for emphasis).  After the pledge, you sit down and then have the moment of silence.

It's a smooth transition.  No one is allowed to talk during the 60 seconds and I also bold that statement for emphasis.  You cannot imply something if nothing is being implied.  If the teacher said "Okay, moment of silence pray to yourselves" then fuck yeah that's unconstitutional because the teacher is singling out the students but having 60 seconds to yourself is inherently against secularism? 

I used the moment of silence to hastily cram notes for next class' test or cheat off my friend to finish my homework.  If they abolish the MOS then tons of lazy fuck students like myself will fail and end up joining the military because they don't feel like doing anything else.  The last thing I want is unmotivated fat bastards making it harder for me (an unmotivated fat bastard) to advance and make more money >​

In Elementary school we had to close our eyes and bow our heads during the Moment of Silence. I went to a public school.

In Elementary school we had to close our eyes and bow our heads during the Moment of Silence. I went to a public school.

Yeah I remember doing this too and I went to a school in Virginia.  Once I hit middle school they stopped doing it because we were unruly 6th graders and took shit from no one.  In High School they ruled the MOS as mandatory but you were free to do whatever as long as you didn't make any noise or disturb other students.  I actually played paper football with a dude halfway across class when I wasn't cramming notes.

In Elementary school we had to close our eyes and bow our heads during the Moment of Silence. I went to a public school.

That only happened twice in the entire time that I went to school.  The first time was when the space shuttle Challenger exploded, and the second time was when one of the teachers sons blew his brains out right before class.  Personally I don't like the idea of prayer in school.  Public schools should be strictly secular.

After the pledge, you sit down and then have the moment of silence.

Oh, ok. I see the argument then.

In the schools I went to, In Florida. We would only do the moment of silence thing for mourning. Like, if a student died then we would all have a moment of silence and on 9/11 we had one.

Oh, ok. I see the argument then.

In the schools I went to, In Florida. We would only do the moment of silence thing for mourning. Like, if a student died then we would all have a moment of silence and on 9/11 we had one.

man, on 9/11 all work stopped and we basically watched tv.  i made up some bullshit excuse that my dad worked at the pentagon and i was sent home early.

i was such a bastard in high school.

I said yes, because I thought the question was asking if children should not be prevented from praying in school... the answer is always, yes, within reason of course. Should Mrs. Jones, your fundamentalist Christian english teacher be allowed to require students to bow their heads in silent prayer for the Lord? No, never.

That only happened twice in the entire time that I went to school.  The first time was when the space shuttle Challenger exploded, and the second time was when one of the teachers sons blew his brains out right before class.  Personally I don't like the idea of prayer in school.  Public schools should be strictly secular.

Yeah, moments of silence are incredibly rare at my school as well. We usually only have them when some serious tragedy has happened. If we had them any more often I would probably exert a considerable amount of effort towards disrupting them as best I am able. My school is full of religious nutjobs so I would probably get ostracized for it but theres only 3 weeks left and I fucking hate 90% of the student body at my school so it'd probably be worth it to do something now.

To me, an equivalent to a moment of silence would suffice.  Students can pray or whatever, regardless of religion, and those kids that don't want to pray, don't have to, as long as they don't make too much noise.

also:
"As long as there are tests, there will always be prayer in School"

I propose to make the official religion of the United States the Bahai faith

that way there are no more problems because everyone is the same religion... including atheists

I don't get why all the fuss to have a momoent of silence in the first place.

i want to add that i really crushed my government teacher today.

she was talking about bullshit morality and i told her the government has no right to legislate morality.

then she quoted some court case that said something could be considered illegal if it went against the morals of the community and i said that was stupid. i said in that case could you consider homosexuality illegal if a gay couple moved in to an extremely religious neighborhood or if a black man moved in to an extremely racist neighborhood?

That only happened twice in the entire time that I went to school.  The first time was when the space shuttle Challenger exploded, and the second time was when one of the teachers sons blew his brains out right before class.  Personally I don't like the idea of prayer in school.  Public schools should be strictly secular.

Yeah in middle and high school we still had the MOS, but we didn't have to close our eyes or anything, just not talk. But like when some tragedy or something happened, they said to close our eyes and stuff.

I want to talk about the Pledge. Did you guys have to do the Pledge everyday, even people outside the US? I didn't really like doing the Pledge, like there's no point to it. Ohh, side point to tie it to School Prayer. You people who are fine with School Prayer, but only if its optional, what do you think about having to say "one nation, under god" every morning?

I want to talk about the Pledge. Did you guys have to do the Pledge everyday, even people outside the US? I didn't really like doing the Pledge, like there's no point to it. Ohh, side point to tie it to School Prayer. You people who are fine with School Prayer, but only if its optional, what do you think about having to say "one nation, under god" every morning?

At the end of announcements every morning someone gets on and says the pledge. Most students stand and say the pledge, but some don't stand and they get the shit harassed out of them. I opt for a much less... uhh retarded move, but still nonetheless a protest against saying the pledge at all much less every day. Every day I stand, out of respect for America the nation, but I refuse to say the pledge out of distrust of and disrepect for America the political entity.