quote:Originally posted by beternU:
Renegade Nation,
You quoted the first amendment as though it proved YOUR point, which it decidedly does NOT.
I can not for the life of me understand why anyone wants to trust the government, in the form of local public school administrators who ARE, without question, an element of GOVERNMENT, to decide when school children shall pray, where they shall pray, what form of address they shall make to the Deity (and which deity, for that matter), and what to pray for or about. THAT is not the role of school administrators or teachers. Yes, they got away with that in many schools for many years, but that does not make it constitutional. The First Amendment, which you quoted, is what prevents government from prescribing the times, places and contents of student prayers in public schools. If you wish to say a prayer, go ahead right now and thank your God that the Constitution prevents such government meddling in the spiritual lives of school children.
And yet another example of beternU missing the point and failing reading comprehension.
This issue like many others were originally to be left to local communities specificallybecause the founders did not trust the government.
The issue isn't whether or not I want school prayer or whatever, it's about government accountability. The founders understood that the more the government was decentralized the more accountablility the people would have. The more centralized, the more power is transfered from the people to the central government.