Would you rip up a preapproved speech in front of your classmates, principal, and school board and instead recite

the Lords Prayer? Roy Costner IV did. (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/7/atheist-group-blames-schoolstudent-reciting-lords/) A hotly debated topic around the media today is whether or not schools should allow prayers during the day. It is to my understanding that it is our right to say a prayer when we choose. I believe it is a choice whether a student prays in school or not; no matter what religion they are from. In middle school I had a lot of friends from many different ethnicities, and during the day I know that all of my Muslim friends would be excused from class and would go to the office where there was a room set up so that they could say their daily prayers. When they left they were respectful and did not disrupt class. So after
three years I was fairly used to seeing them leave to go pray but when I got to high school everything changed. There was no place for my Muslim friends to go pray and they were not supposed to leave class to do so. Students were allowed to read the bible and pray during the moment of silence before school officially started, but as soon as class started religion became a very censored. In ninth grade world history my teacher came to a unit where we covered religion and she had to openly defend that she was allowed to teach about religion and that it was not violating the first amendment. Having experienced these things I must admit that in general people seemed happier when they were free to practice whatever religion they pleased whenever they pleased.

In the U.S. we are afforded many rights and that are not allowed in many countries. These rights were formed by the founding fathers of this nation. One of the rights they set forth was the first amendment, which clearly states that the government shall not make a law that prohibits us from practicing religion nor shall they make a law that establishes an official religion. When a child rights a speech if they are religious then some of that religion is bound to bleed through no matter what that religion is. So why then do people feel like taking away these childrens constitutional rights by making them censor their speeches? As long as the government is not saying that their speech is the best because if follows a certain religious value then the student has the right to say whatever he or she wants about their religion. We live in a free country where everyone is allowed to choose how they live. So why is it that certain groups wish to make it so that students cannot choose to say as they wish during school functions? Did our founding fathers not fight so that we could be free from some person or persons telling us how to live our lives? No. They fought so that the people could decide what

they wanted in life. In the graph on the left we see that 69% of the people who were surveyed agree that organized prayer should be allowed in schools. It also is common sense that if someone does not want to participate in a prayer then they do not have too. It is their choice to pray and follow their god/gods. Not someone elses. There are exceptions to these rules. No one should be forced to pray. If they wish to stand and listen that is fine but never should they be forced to practice something they do not believe. Also students should not stand up in the middle of class without expressed permission and start praying out loud. These actions are disruptive and inappropriate. We live in a free country where everyone is allowed to choose how they live. So why is it that certain groups wish to make it so that students cannot choose to say as they wish during school functions? Did our founding fathers not fight so that we could be free from some person or persons telling us how to live our lives? No. They fought so that the people could decide what they wanted in life.

Images link:(comic)(http://rosemck1.tripod.com/compassion.html)(graph)(http://www.publicagendaarchi ves.org/charts/more-two-thirds-americans-say-school-prayer-should-be-permitted-publicschools-when-asked-choose-half)