| On School Prayer Back to archive index indoctrination, intentional or not 63.161.204.180 writes: Prayer in school is effectively an implicit form of indoctrination. That might not be the intent of all of its supporters, but that is the result. (I strongly suspect that there are those who do intend prayer in school to be, among other things, a form of indoctrination. Namely, I suspect such people of the religious right who want America to ‘embrace its Christian heritage’, as they might put it.) The act of praying assumes that there is something to pray toward. Prayer in schools teaches children that there is a God, (or gods or whatever, if you really believe non-Christian religions would be given equal time which I doubt). More than likely, prayer in school in this country would be more specific and teach that there is a God and Jesus is his son. In any case, whether it intends to or not, prayer amounts to an implicit teaching of religious/spiritual concepts. There is a big difference between requiring children to go to school at all and requiring children to hear prayer in school. Mixing religion and goverment causes conflict and personal grief. It is bad for society. This lesson is clear from our own history and from present-day theocracies. Universal education is good for society and individuals, even though a small few with very questionable logic may disagree. It just seems to me that so many people would fight tooth and nail so that their child doesn't hear a prayer in school...yet these same kids parents make sure they tape every episode of Southpark for them. Why do you think that people who object to prayer are people who don’t teach morals to their children ? Kenn |