Don't Neglect Religion To students Nor Force It On Them!

Is religion in public schools still an issue today? Are there still cases where kids are having religion forced on them? Would putting religion in public schools put the United States on track to being like the country we fought so hard to liberate ourselves from? Is it right to take away the right of worship even if it is just at public schools? Religion is needed in school. The ancestors of the United States of America fought hard for religious freedom. To negate religion in school would be to negate their efforts and sacrifices. That being said, there are certain things that must be followed to insure the freedom and rights of citizens today.


No religion can be discriminated against
Obviously there are some exceptions to this. The exceptions however must be clearly stated in the law and can only be religions that cause harm. Such as ones that promote violence and or wouldn’t be able to follow the rules of the school.
If we allow one religion but not all that is making America move backwards instead of forwards. One reason why America was founded by separating from Great Britain was to have religious freedom. If we start discriminating now, then everything that Americans have worked so hard for would be for nothing.


The religion must be student led
A student or students must be the one to start the program. They need to be the ones coming up with the ideas or at least involved with what's going on. Most schools require a teacher representative for clubs and programs. Teachers are allowed to be involved in these activities, but must take a side line approach. This being said, I acknowledge that in the lower education levels, the children can’t run their own clubs. Those religious groups would have to be run by an adult, but there would have to be one available for all religions. Also, the adult couldn’t push anything that religion doesn’t already establish. To help ensure the religious freedom and security of the younger children (5-13 years old/all kids in schooling younger than 9th grade)
“Acting on behalf of an unnamed Hall County citizen, the AHA accused the county of violating the First Amendment by allowing Gainesville’s Chestatee High School football coaches to organize team prayers and promote biblical messages on team documents and pre-game banners” (Ashtari). When the coach or adult figure leads the prayer or religious activity at school, children feel forced to jiong in. When the coach of a team is leading a prayer before a game, the students who don't pray could be seen as not wanting the team to do well. If one of the students come and say hey guys lets pray for our victory, then the kid who doesn’t have that religion won’t feel as obligated to join in. When it’s peers, it’s a less demanding presence then when it’s an authority figure.


The club and or group can not interrupt the school day
Public schools first most priority is to provide education to the students that attend the school. Education is the number one priority and no club or group should be allowed to disrupt the learning environment. That being said there are certain exceptions. The specific members can take religious field trips, as long as they follow the rules set up to take time off school. For sports teams, they travel for competitions and tournaments. In order to do so, the students must reach a certain grade point average and be responsible to make up and work or tests they miss. Also, the students have to be in school for the required amount of days required by the state. Of they were to exceed this amount then they can not participate in said trip. The club can put on special things as long as they get permission from the school administratives. The administratives can not decline the club without reasonable cause. They must write up why and explain to the club or group why it's not allowed. Lastly, having it being in the day could create segregation and separation. If there was a dedicated time to meet with your religious groups, a separation would occur that could result in an unhealthy dangerous environment.

There are already cases in which this was addressed. “The Supreme Court has rejected as unconstitutional a wide variety of school-sponsored religious activity, including voluntary “released time” religious instruction by outside groups on campus during the school day, non-denominational and voluntary school-sponsored prayers and Bible reading exercises, the posting of the Ten Commandments in schools, a law requiring a moment of silence expressly intended for “meditation or voluntary prayer” during the school day, ...”(Burgess). What we need to remember when dealing with any club or activity at school, is that school is for educational purposes. It is true that sport teams and such, miss school for events and competitions. Only those specific kids however are missing the day of learning and are held responsible for everything done the days they miss. If religious clubs or any clubs in that matter start disrupting the school day, then the school isn’t being able to do it’s job, which is providing free education to children.


The religion can not be forced on anyone
Students can’t be forced to join the religious group. Nor can there be any special treatments given to the students in the particular club for joining it. When schools start forcing religion on students, America starts losing it’s value. The reason why America was founded was for freedom. Religious freedom being a major one. Being tired of having to follow the religion of the king of Great Britain, the colonists fought back. Resulting in America, the land of the free.

Most may think that there is no reason for this petition. Americans already have religious freedom. Well, you're wrong. There are places right now in the United States where religion is being forced on kids or denied to others in the public school system. Due to the constitution not being more detailed in its regulations about religion in the public school system, these schools can get away with it. The constitution needs to cover these regulations in order to ensure that America truly is the land of the free. To be honest, I didn’t know myself that religious freedom wasn’t a reality for all. I wasn’t around it so, how was I supposed to know. I couldn’t unless I did research on it. Now that I have and see what’s going on, I want to help those people become oblivious to the issue. I want to make it to where they believe that America is the land of the free. Where you can believe in what you want. Where everyone can have a different religion and it be okay. A place in which a public school system can have programs like Multiply, MSA, and other religious clubs.