Prayer in public government-sponsored schools should never again be allowed. Everyone unfortunately, does not agree on this though. In fact, survey after survey of people across the nation proves that most Americans support prayer in the public school system. The surveys are not even close, with the majority, 70 percent over 30 percent, approving of daily prayer to be spoken in the classroom. Nonetheless, prayer in public schools should be banned, because it is unconstitutional, already allowed in certain conditions, and it imposes and infringes on other's rights as Americans.
It is almost plain as day to see that prayer in public schools are unconstitutional. The Constitution of the United States gives Americans many freedoms, such as the freedom of press, speech, religion, and so forth. Many people use our freedom of religion to say that they can allow prayer in schools. But, it later says in the Constitution that there shall be a "wall of separation between Church and State," (School Prayer 2). People say that this means the government will stay out of religious activities, but in all reality it means that religion will stay out of the government, keeping the government neutral to all religious beliefs. So, having this in the Constitution keeps government sponsored prayer in the public schools illegal.
There have been many cases where the issue of prayer in public schools has been brought before the Supreme Court. In all of these cases, the Supreme Court has ruled again and again that government-sponsored religious activities in a public school are in fact illegal. On June 24, 1992, the Supreme Court said, "no holding by this Court suggests that a school can persuade or compel a student to participate in a religious exercise," (Alley 212).
Also in 1992, the Supreme Court ruled in Lee v. Weisman that prayers at public school commencements, such as graduation ceremonies, are an impermissible establishment of religion.
