Amen

	
	Does prayer play an important role in our lives today?  The minority would say no
and that prayer shouldn't ever have played an important role in our society.  But, the
simple fact of the matter is that for hundreds of years, prayer in school has been
encouraged by both society and government.  In recent years, it has been established that
prayer in schools has led to a steady moral decline.  Morals must be taught, in school and
at home, and they cannot be properly taught without religion as a much needed stepping
stone.
	Our government was based upon religious beliefs from the very beginning.  The
Declaration of Independence says:  "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by God with certain unalienable rights. . ." 
Certainly, it talks about God, creations, God-given moral rights, the providence of God,
and the final Day of Judgment-all of which are religious teachings.  And school prayer
has been an important part of our religious experience from the very beginning.
	Our very First Amendment didn't separate God and government but actually
encouraged religion.  It reads:  "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment
of religion, nor prohibit the free exercise thereof,"  (Encarta 96).  The first part simply
says that the federal government cannot establish one religion for all of the people. The
simple idea of everyone in our nation being limited to one form of religion is
inconceivable.  The second section insists that the government should do nothing to
discourage religion.  But forbidding prayer in schools discourages religion, doesn't it?
	Early congressional actions encouraged religion in public schools.  For example,
the Northwest Treaty (1787 and 1789) declared:  "Religion, morality, and knowledge
being necessary for good government and the happiness of mankind, schools, and the
means of learning shall forever be encouraged"  (Encarta 96).  By seeing this, religion,
which includes prayer, was deemed to be necessary.  Congress has prayed at the opening
of every session since the very beginning.  By acknowledging these facts we ask the
simple question, " If the government can pray in their sessions, why can't the governed
pray in their (school) sessions?							
	Public schools had prayer for nearly 200 years before the Supreme Court ruled
that state-mandated class prayers were unconstitutional in Engel vs. Vitale in 1962
(Buckley 70).  How could this trail have such a huge impact on our nation and ultimately
alter how we perceive our constitution?  The fact that prayer was practiced for nearly 200
years alone establishes it by example as a valid and very important practice in our school
system.  And with the emergence of private schools becoming more visible and quite
popular, does the situation change due to the up-and-coming number of private schools in
our communities today?								
	Seeing that privately owned schools obviously have the right to teach certain
beliefs and have certain rules to abide by without questioning other authorities, why
shouldn't public schools be allowed the same amount of leeway?  These private schools
are exactly what they say, private, therefore picking and choosing students based upon
income and beliefs. Private schools do not have to accept an atheist or Christian, yet they
select the type of child that will fit in to their school more adequately. Seeing as how
private schools are funded privately, on the other hand, public schools are funded by the
government through taxes.  This would lead us to believe that the government would be
different from the state right? Right, in many ways, the church and state still coincide
with one another and many people recognize this and do not like it, thus causing the
controversy of prayer in school.  Why do we not just simplify the matter and impose a
"voluntary" prayer amendment to make everyone happy.  This amendment would allow
children who want to pray to be able to pray and those who do not want to pray would
not be forced into doing so, wouldn't this be a great idea?				
	There are several reasons why "voluntary" prayer amendment would  be able to
establish itself as a lasting law in our nation.  The first would be because it would enforce
the First Amendment's guarantee against government established religion.  If a
"voluntary" prayer amendment was passed then school prayer supporters would
eventually attempt to apply this rule by encouraging organized, daily classroom displays
of religion and ultimately prayer in schools.  By making this into a law it would simply
be an act to help solidify our forefather's constitution that has successfully led us where
we are today with simply, precise guidelines.					
	America is called the land of the free and home to millions of people.  These
people have many different cultures and traditions that help to make our country the great
nati