Ratified July 9, 1868) prevented the States and the Federal government from setting up a house of worship, passing laws that favor any religion, or using tax funds to support any religious conviction. Justice Hugo Black "incorporated" the First Amendment's establishment clause into the 14th Amendment, which states, "The State shall not deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of laws and due process."" (Constitution of the United States of America) After this trial, people began to query whether school prayer was constitutional. In keeping with a spirit of religious freedom as stated in the First Amendment, the suggestion to have a moment of silence during the school day when our nation's brood can pray or do freely as they choose was suggested. Many on both sides of this topic favor this compromise, and six states now per!.
mit silent moments - Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama. (Fenwick 11) In an even larger win for the protagonisic side in this issue, silent prayer was ruled constitutional in 1985 as long as it had no religious intent or purpose. (Newsweek 1-2).
Since the prohibition of organized prayer in public schools, the nation has been in fixed moral decline.
Ten percent of Adult Americans (19.4 million) are currently divorced (Divorce 10). .
Four in ten young women become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of twenty "nearly one million a year. Eight in ten of these pregnancies are unintended, and seventy-nine percent are to unmarried. (National 1).
Almost three million violent crimes were committed in the United States last year. (White 1).
One and a half million people were arrested for drug use in 1999. (White 2).
Many school prayer supporters believe there is a direct correlation between the exclusion of prayer from public schools and the decline of morality. Religious conservatives are convinced that religious persuasion in our schools is necessary to teach students morals and values.
