?School sponsored prayer in public schools should not be allowed because it violates the United States Constitution.? To better understand this statement we must first identify what a public school is. The definition of a public school is an elementary or secondary school in the United States supported by public funds. Therefore, any and all federal laws apply to public schools. On this basis, one can clearly identify that the introduction of school-sponsored prayer in to public schools, in any form, is in direct violation of federal law in many ways. The doctrine of the first amendment states, thatCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion?? .
Based on the precedent of the United States Supreme Court case Wallace v. Jaffree, one can make the assertion that public educational facilities cannot sponsor prayer because it does not serve a secular purpose and promotes religious activity, violating the Establishment Clause. In this case the Supreme Court struck down on three state statutes that mandated for one minute of silence before the start of classes and authorized teachers to lead a voluntary prayer. The Supreme Court ruled that the statutes were religious in nature and violated the Establishment Clause. Any such recognition of a religious establishment violates the United States Constitution because the doctrine of the first amendment enforces the separation of church and state. However, this is not the only instance in which the First Amendment was upheld. Numerous amounts of times religion has been introduced into public schools and again it violated the Constitution. For instance in Lee v. Weisman the Supreme Court ruled that clergy could not be invited to make a non-denominational graduation prayer. Because a school official sponsored the event, the Supreme Court ruled that theprayer? was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court affirmed that prayer in public schools also denies religious freedom because peer pressure and ridicule force an individual to participate in an activity, which he or she would normally not.
