Effectiveness of Prayer in the Public School System

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Bria Edwards

Professor Ake

English Comp II

9 June 2015

Effectiveness of Prayer in the Public School System

      Prayer in public schools should be allowed for several reasons, which will be discussed further in this essay. When doing the research, several statistics prove that having prayer in the school systems has positive benefits versus not allowing prayer in public schools. It installs good citizenship and morals. Morals cannot be taught without religion in my opinion. With moral law there has to be a moral law giver. "Since the court has outlawed prayer, the nation has been in steady moral decline, said former Secretary of Education William Bennett. “Bennett revealed in his cultural indexes that between 1960 and 1990 there was a steady moral decline. According to restore-christian-america.org," During this period divorce doubled, teenage pregnancy went up 200%, teen suicide increased 300%, child abuse reached an all - time high, violent crime went up 500%, and abortion increased 1000%. There is a strong correlation between the expulsion of prayer from our schools and the decline in morality." Prayer has positive psychological, physical, and emotional influences. When praying, focusing on your emotions can reduce anxiety, relieve stress, and calm fears. Cardiologist Randolph Byrd performed his study on the effects of prayer from April 1982 through May 1983. According to Byrd Rc (July 1988) author of positive therapeutic effects of intercessory prayer in a coronary

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care unit population," That praying on a regular basis can have an enormous effect on the psyche of an individual by stabilizing their mood, giving them a feeling of wellbeing, improving how they interact with others and positively changing the way they conduct themselves. When it comes to children and how they behave in school, prayer and all these positive effects that it holds can have enormous constructive effects on their outlook and those around them. Even SAT scores in Christian schools are much higher than in public schools, and yet they spend much less per student than public schools. Majority of Americans, three- quarters to be exact, favor prayer in the public school system. Why should the majority be banned by the objection of the minority?

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Work Cited Page

1. Byrd RC (July 1988). “Positive therapeutic effects of intercessory prayer in a coronary care unit population.” Southern Medical Journal 81 (7): 826-9
2. www.restore-christian-america.org/reasons.html