Expelling Religion?
I
have grown up in church my whole life, so apart from school, church in another
life for me. I am a Christian, and I am not ashamed. I went to a private Christian school, across
from my church, from second to sixth grade. We prayed, were taught bible
verses, and it seemed in my own little world that everyone cared about God, was
glad to learn about Him, and be in this type of environment every day. In
seventh grade, I attended a private academy and some of the same actions were
applied during the school day. Then, when starting eighth grade, my parents
wanted me to go to Green Sea Floyds, a public school in South Carolina, for
various reasons. That is when I realized how different it was from my sheltered
life. That is when realized that people did not care about religion as much as
I thought they should.
A
couple of years ago, I heard that prayer and even the word God in the pledge of
allegiance had been taken out of some public schools across the United
States. For me, this was like getting
shocked with an electric fence. The first question that came to my mind was, “Do
people even care about religion anymore? And “How could they take God out of
schools? People should take advantage of freedom of
religion in public schools. They should care about religion and it should not
be taken out of any school.
It
has been recorded that the first action the pilgrims did when they debarked the
Mayflower was fall on their knees to worship God. They set laws that followed the Bible. “Colonial governments passed laws strongly influenced by biblical
injunctions…” states Kevin Sweeny who wrote an article about American history. Most
of the reason they came to America was for their religious freedom from King
George II. Eventually, they formed a government of, for, and by the people,
that contained those Godly laws. Christian beliefs are what our nation was
built upon, and I believe this is why we are as strong and prosperous as a
country as we are today.
Some
say a reason religion is being taken out of schools is because it could hurt
others feelings or because there are so many different religions in the United
States and they do not want to offend anyone religiously, yet educators are
still required to teach evolution. That is against my religion, but I am
expected to learn it. Right? Are they going to “expel” evolution? Probably not.
Michael Lemonick, Noah Isackson and Jeffery Ressner argue that “Evolution
should not be taught in school because it is a theory and it can’t be proven”.
When asked, my eight grade science teacher told me that she is required to
teach evolution. She said, “I’m a Christian, but I have to teach what is in the
science book. Of course, I don’t like teaching that section because it’s not
right.”
Martha
Nussbaum (professor of law) argues that the laws should support religions being
allowed in public schools, that they should all (religions) be treated equally.
“Religious liberty is very important to people, and it is often distributed
unequally,” she says. Well, we have a moment of silence. Doesn’t that count?
Not for me. Why can they not call it prayer? I know that time is dedicated for
that reason. That is not equal to me. We should not be ashamed to call it
prayer, because that is what it is.
In conclusion, I still believe prayer/religion should be
in all schools, across the United States. This is where America originated, and
now it is being hidden behind the curtain. The loss of religion has effected
out students, faculty, and our overall community. Recently, a public school
closed to where I live, were reprimanded for having prayer before the football
game. This is just a prime example. For the government to pass a law saying it
cannot be a part of schools, is taking away a right. It is taking away my
right.
