HAF POLICY BRIEF: PRAYER IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
© 2004 Hindu American Foundation, Inc.
A variety of amendments and other measures are being introduced, considered, and advocated for that would
mandate worship in public schools. Though the specific content of these proposals vary, the substantive impact is
that students would be expected to engage in religious activity during school time. The Hindu American
Foundation (HAF) finds the coercive nature of these provisions and their divisive tendencies troubling and
potentially dangerous.
Efforts to mandate prayer in public schools are unconstitutional and violate the secular ideals enshrined in our
laws. The Constitution and subsequent legal precedent unequivocally mandate the separation of church and
state. In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down religious instruction in public schools in McCollum v. Board of
Education.i In 1962, the Supreme Court in Engel v. Vitale ruled that official prayer has no place in public education
and that government officials are not allowed to compose a prayer for students to recite.ii In 1963, the Supreme
Court ruled in Abington Township School District v. Schempp that school-sponsored Bible reading and recitation
of the Lord’s Prayer are unconstitutional.iii Courts have consistently ruled that teachers may not participate in
religious activities with students at any time relevant to the school day.iv
Despite these constraints, significant latitude of religious activity is allowed within public schools. Students can
pray in school buses, at the flagpole, in student religious clubs, and in the hallways and cafeteria. If the school
has as few as one extra-curricular student-led and student-organized group, then students have a legal right to
organize a Bible or other religious club to meet outside of classroom time. v
The movement to mandate prayer in public schools is troubling on a number of grounds. Violence has resulted
from such provisions in the past.vi Though the prayers sanctioned may be non-denominational and non-sectarian
in theory, there is a real possibility that such measures will lead to imposition of one religious tradition on all
students regardless of their individual faith. Many people advocating for these measures are motivated by a
desire to have their beliefs taught in the public schools and illegally use the educational system as an instrument
for conversion or evangelism.
Author Robert S. Alley has interviewed several prominent individuals involved in relevant high-profile court cases
and observes, “Communities attempt to impose the mores and cultural patterns of religion on their public schools;
in some instances these Christians have gone beyond angry protests to threats of violence against the parents
and children and even as far as arson and other property damage.” vii
More than 1,500 different religious bodies and sects co-exist and flourish in America. There are over 360,000
churches, mosques, temples and synagogues. viii Over 90 percent of Americans profess a belief in God; more than
half say they pray at least once a day, and more than 40 percent say they have attended worship services during
the previous week.ix The separation of church and state has allowed religion to flourish while enabling peaceful
coexistence among a plurality of faiths.
In light of the enduring continuity of religious faith in America, it is neither necessary nor advisable to bring religion
into the public sphere, especially the classroom, where children are most vulnerable to peer pressure and the
influence of teachers and other students. The appropriate forum for instilling morals and values is at home, and
most parents would prefer to keep it that way. Mandating prayer does not create a more spiritual or religious
society; instead, it politicizes religion and makes a public display of what should be personal and individual. It
enables evangelization and the denigration of non-majority religious beliefs.
While many Hindus pray regularly and Hinduism has always recognized the power of prayer, Hindus believe
strongly in the values of pluralism, acceptance, tolerance, and respect for the diversity of the spiritual paths of
humanity. HAF feels it is wrong to require prayer in school for those individuals who would not be comfortable
engaging in such religious activities.
The Hindu American Foundation believes strongly that the separation of church and state must be maintained
and that prayers should not be mandated in public schools during instructional time. As such, HAF urges the
following:
1) Recognition that in a multi-faith, religiously diverse society, the government should be neutral towards
religion. Accordingly, public schools can allow individual student religious expression without
promoting any specific faith or tradition;
2) Recognition that decisions about religious activity and belief should be delegated to the home and
private sphere. This is the stance adopted by the Supreme Court and one by which we must abide;
and
3) Condemnation of any federal or state legislation that seeks to mandate prayers or any other religious
activity in public schools.
i
McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203, 68 S. Ct. 461, 92 L. Ed. 649 (1948).
Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421, 82 S. Ct. 1261, 8 L. Ed. 2d 601 (1962).
iii
Abington Township School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 10 L. Ed. 2d 844, 83 S. Ct. 1560 (1963).
iv
See, e.g., Doe v.Duncanville Indep. Sch. Dist., 70 F.3d 402 (5th Cir. 1995) (holding that coach’s practice of leading and participating in prayers with
basketball team
before and after games is unconstitutional); Steele v. Van Buren Ph. Sch. Dist., 845 F.2d 1492 (8th Cir. 1988) (affirming that band teacher could not lead
student band
in prayer before rehearsals and performances); Peloza v. Capistrano Unified Sch. Dist., 782 F.Supp. 1412 (C.D. Cal. 1992), aff’d, rev’d on other grounds,
37 F.3d 517
(9th Cir. 1994) (disallowing teacher from discussing his religious views with students during instructional time).
v
“Religion and Prayer in U.S. Public Schools: Introduction, Constitution, Court Decisions, etc.,” Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, April 27,
1995, at:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/.
vi
For example, full-scale riots occurred and many lives were lost in Philadelphia in 1844 over a dispute on which version of the Bible should be used in the
classroom.
A similar conflict divided Cincinnati in 1869.
vii
Robert S. Alley, "Without a Prayer: Religious expression in Public Schools," Prometheus Books, at: http://www.religioustolerance.org.
viii
“Front Page,” ACLU, March 6, 1998, at: http://www.aclu.org.
ix
Ibid.
ii