...A very controversial widespread issue today is the right to have prayer in public schools. The proposed amendment reads: "To secure the people's right to acknowledge God according to the dictates of conscience. The people's rights to pray and to recognize their belief, heritage or traditions on public property, shall not be infringed. The government shall not require any person to join in the prayer or religious activity, initiate or designate school prayers, discriminate against any religion, or deny equal access to benefit on account of religion. (AVSP)" This would permit but not mandate school prayer. I think that the government should be focused on the school's academics, not what religion they are to study. The proposed amendments would cause nothing but trouble considering that there would be many arguments on what beliefs should be taught. Religion is private and schools are public. Having any prayer in school goes against the basis in which our country was formed upon. America came into being because colonists wanted religious freedom. Our founding fathers carefully wrote the constitution to grant the freedom of separation of church and state. A prayer created and supported by a government violate the very essence of the spirit in which the US was formed. (Haas35) Therefore, having a prayer in school would be unconstitutional. "A radical school prayer amendment would attack the heart and soul of the bill of rights which safeguards the rights of the individual...
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...EXAMINATION OF FREEDOM OF RELIGION PROVISIONS IN PUBLIC BODIES IN NEW ZEALAND, CANADA, AND THE UNITED STATES by ELIZABETH G. FOX 28 August 2009 1 I INTRODUCTION New Zealand does not have a state religion in the way that other countries do.1 The Church of England, for example, has its doctrine and prayer book ratified by Parliament and has the Queen as supreme authority over both ecclesiastical and civil matters.2 However, the central legislators of this country listen to the Speaker of the House open each Parliamentary session with the following prayer.3 Almighty God, humbly acknowledging our need for Thy guidance in all things, and laying aside all private and personal interests, we beseech Thee to grant that we may conduct the affairs of this House and of our country to the glory of Thy holy name, the maintenance of true religion and justice, the honour of the Queen, and the public welfare, peace, and tranquillity of New Zealand, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Is this appropriate in a country that professes no state church and the tolerance of all religions equally?4 Religious content has historically infiltrated governing and administrative bodies. However, with the cultural disestablishment of Christianity and the emergence of toleration for all faiths, there continues to be the presence and preference of a small set of religions by the State. The degree to which religion interacts with the State varies with different public bodies. One reaction to...
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...re going to include writ of habeas corpus, no bill of attained, no duties or taxes on transporting goods from one state to another, jury trials, freedom of religion, speech press, assembly, and petition, state militia to bear arms, no quartering of troops in homes, no unreasonable search and seizure, major crimes require indictment, no double jeopardy for the same crime, no self-incrimination, right to due process, right to just compensation for property taken by eminent domain, in criminal law, right to a speedy trial, to confront witnesses against one, and to counsel, trial by jury, etc (Szypszak, 2011). This paper is going to discuss the case of Korb v. Raytheon, 707 F. Supp. 63 (D. Mass. 1989) and the challenges that were faced with the constitutional rights, and discuss some other case that support the analysis of this case. Facts, Issues, & Rule: Korb v. Raytheon Raytheon was a large corporation that built equipment for the U.S. military, and Korb was an employee that was hired by the company for a brief period of time as a vice-president in their Washington, DC office. The Massachusetts Supreme Court summarized the facts of this case: In December, 1985, with Raytheon's permission, Korb joined the executive board of the Committee for National Security (CNS), a nonprofit association keen to informing the public about issues of national security and the deterrence of nuclear war. On February 25, 1986, CNS held a press conference in a Senate office building during Korb's...
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...Freedom of Religion Scenarios “Your first case involved the eccentric Veronica, who did not practice traditional religion, but rather worshipped with poisonous snakes. Veronica argued her 1st Amendment rights to worship with poisonous snakes should be protected just like the 1st Amendment guarantees protection for other religions & the right for people to own guns. Her argument was the state should have never violated her religious practices. As judge or citizen, I can honestly say I have never heard of such faith & snakes scare the absolute hell out of me. There ain’t gonna be no snake worshipping in my town – judgment DENIED!” 1. Veronica’s beliefs may seem unusual but it still counts as a religion regardless whether you have heard of it or not. The establishment clause states that all religion must be read the same. The judge’s ruling is incorrect, especially because he/she is afraid of snakes and has never heard of these practices before. However, judge’s ruling would make more sense of he/she focused on dangers of poisonous snakes, since they have the ability to kill. If there is a possibility of snakes causing harm, then it would be rational to curtail that religion. For instance, religious extremists are not allowed to act on terrorism/violence, despite what their religion may preach... you cannot stone a woman to death simply because she cheated on you. In other words, there is a difference between practicing your religion and causing damage by your religion. You can...
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...government has little to do with the operating of public school. Although when they intervene, a great change is made for the best in education. The government makes sure that a free education is provided for all children even if there may be a disability problem. The Federal Government role is not to get too involved with the public education, but it does assist public schools through a list of legislative actions. According to (Moore 2001), the first interaction of IDEA, the Education of All Handicapped Children Act, passed more than 35 years ago, had several positive elements. Regardless of the level of disability, a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) is available for all children. In order to meet the needs of students with disabilities, an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) was established. Some students have different levels of disabilities that may require the 504 Plan. Students who qualify for this plan may not be listed as a special education student. Never the less they still may have some other type of disability they have trouble doing without some assistance. The 504 Plan should be developed by a committee that consists on the student, parent, teacher, counselor, and the 504 coordinator. In 2002, Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the most far-reaching reform of the education system in years. (Issues and Controversy, 2003). The (NCLB) was intended to make sure as a nation that all public school systems educate all of it children. This...
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...two hundred and seven years, every session of the United States Senate has been opened with a prayer. Doing so has reaffirmed the Senates faith that God is the Sovereign Lord of our Nation. Barry C. Black currently serves as the spiritual advisor and counselor for the United States Senate with the title of Chaplin. Over the years, this position has ranged from part time, to now a full time position (United States Senate, 2011). Ever since Engel v. Vitale, people have been upset that God has been kicked out of the classroom. Engle v. Vitale was a landmark Supreme Court case, in which it was ruled that the public school could not be started or concluded with a formal reciting of a non-denominational prayer (Bill of Rights Institute, 2010). The following information will show both sides of the argument of if prayer should be allowed in schools. Background information will be given on the history of prayer in school and prayer in congress, and my personal thoughts on this important position. Argument There are many different viewpoints on the argument of prayer in schools. We will begin with the argument of allowing prayer in schools. The United States Constitution protects religious freedom under the First Amendment. The First Amendment states that Congress should not make any law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise of religion (U.S. Constitution Online, 2010). The interpretation of the First Amendment has been the basis...
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...Prayer in Public Schools Derrick DuHart Race, Religion, Culture Arkansas Baptist College Dr. Johnson, Instructor November 4, 2014 Tables of Contents I. Introduction Background/Statement of Problems pg. 3-4 Purpose of the Study pg. 5-12 Research Questions pg. 13 Significance of the Study pg. 14-19 II. Literature Review Methodology and Sampling Design Strategy pg. 20 Data Collection Procedures pg. 20 Data Analyzed pg. 21 Ethical Issues pg. 21 III. Results Conclusion pg. 21-22 References pg. 23 Appendix: I. Annotated Bibliography pg. 24-26 II. Survey Questions pg. 27 III. Results (Charted/Tables) pg. 28-31 Notes: I. Introduction Background/Statement of Problem Prayer in Public Schools The courts have ruled against prayer in school. Many agree with the decision; yet many disagree. Prayer should be allowed in public schools because it is already practiced. It prevents...
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...Issues of family structure, gender roles, social status, and national heritage unfolded through the generations after immigration—and how for Catholic immigrants and their children, religion stood at the heart of those issues. (http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org) Ritual and prayer are integral parts of Catholic life, from the sacraments which mark the sacred milestones on life's journey to the smaller rituals of daily devotion. In the case of the Eucharist, these two overlap: the Eucharist is both the sacramental heart of Catholic life and, for many believers, a daily event. The Mass is usually celebrated in a church, but Catholics carry many other ritual actions of devotion and worship into the nooks and crannies of everyday life. (http://www.patheos.com) Throughout history tradition has made wars, especially with the Roman Catholics and the Greek Orthodox. “ Roman Catholics and Orthodox nuke it out, each claiming the other's tradition is wrong, while sola Scriptura advocates point them back to the Bible as the only hope for unity!”(http://www.bible.ca) Both Roman Catholics and Orthodox view the other churches tradition as invalid. We merely highlight the fact that, contrary to their claims, "church tradition" does not bring about uniform doctrine and interpretation of scripture. The first Roman Catholics to enter the American colonies settled in Maryland in 1634. They were under the control of the Vicar Apostolic of London, but the American Revolution made that arrangement...
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...Supreme Court Cases Involving Students Tinker v. Des Moines The court case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District of 1969, citation 393 U.S. 503 (1969), was heard by the Warren Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The case involved three students in Des Moines who held a meeting and decided to wear black arm bands to school in order to show support for the truce in the Vietnam War. The three students were John Tinker, Mary Beth Tinker, and Christopher Eckhardt. They met at Christopher Eckardt’s house, who was 16-years-old at the time, and made plans to wear the arm bands during the holiday season and intended to end the protest on New Year’s Day. An administrator had heard of the students plan before it happened and believed it would cause a disruption to the school. The administrator banned the arm bands that displayed support of the Vietnam War. Students were asked to remove the arm bands and if they did not, they would face suspension. In spite of the threat, the three students wore the arm bands to school anyways and refused to remove them. The students were suspended from school until the end of their protest. The parents of...
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...state was not to erase religion from public life but that the church would not determine governing laws and the laws would also not determine church doctrine: the Founders encouraged religion, as they believed religion was an essential and vital part of the new nation (Spalding, p. 312, 2008). The Founders acknowledged the importance of religion in our country. Even when they thought their homes were being barraged and overrun, they took the time to start their important meeting with a prayer, and as John Adams put it in his letter to Abigail, he had never seen a “greater effect upon an audience” (Novak, p. 306, 2008). Novak further notes that The Founders formed a covenant with God, pledging their fidelity to Him, and asking Him to protect their liberty, and solidifying this covenant by asking Americans to set aside a day for prayer and fasting (Novak, pp. 306-307, 2008). The Founders saw religion as guidance to morality. They also believed in God’s providence and saw Him as the author of liberty. Dreisbach notes that today, the “separation of church and state” or the “wall of separation” is frequently used to separate religion from private life and thus encourage a private religion and a strictly secular state, and a philosophy “intolerant of religious influences in the public square” (p. 320, 2008). This notion is altered from that of the Founders. Spalding states that what the separation of church and state does is free religion, allowing religion to provide an independent...
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...Religious Education Tax dollars are your money at work. Do you want your money to go to fund private religious schools? Tax dollars should not fund religious education because it is a violation of the separation of church and state clause of the first amendment to the constitution. Lately we have seen proposals for vouchers. These vouchers are public money given to low income family so they may send their kids to private schools. Most of the schools who use this program are religious. In the Cleveland voucher program we see there were 3,761 children are enrolled and 96 percent of those children are attending religious schools. Also 82 percent of the participating schools were seReligious Education- Original Writing In my Religious Education lessons I have studied many different religons and managed to broaden my knowledge on different practices and life styles of people all over the world. Now my school term is ending I have been given the task to choose from different topics, I decided to choose the task of taking 3 religions and comparing their beliefes. I have chosen the religions Judaism, Islam and Rastafarianism. I am going to begin with Judaism- Judaism - Jews believe that actions are very important no matter how much you have studied about the Jewish religion and no matter how high your title may be, if your actions aren't pleasing to g-d, also known as Adonai in prayer (g-d will be explained later on).... [tags: Papers]ctarian. This voucher program was challenged...
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...his steamboats. Barron v. Baltimore (1833) (1) Constitutional Question: Did the Fifth Amendment only allow the federal government to take away private property for public use without just compensation and deny the states that right? (2) Background information: John Barron had filed a lawsuit against the city of Baltimore because of the Fifth Amendment. He was claiming that Baltimore had deprived him of his property. In the Fifth Amendment it is clearly stated that no private property is allowed to be used for public property without benefit and Baltimore had unconstitutionally deprived John Barron of his private property. He had gotten an award of $4,500, but then the award was reversed by a type of court called appellate court. John Barron had appealed his case to the Supreme Court, and the case was reviewed in 1833. (3) Opinion: Once the case was reviewed the court had decided that the Fifth Amendment did not apply to the states, and only to the federal government. That was until the Fourteenth Amendment came out after the Civil War which applied to the states. According to the Supreme Court John Barron had no claim because the Bill of Rights does not apply to the states. During the case, the court was auguring that in the constitution under the Bill of Rights it does not state that the Bill of Rights limits the actions of state governments. The case was dismissed because there was no federal claim and the Supreme Court had little jurisdiction. Since this case the...
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...Freedom of Religion, Speech and the Press The first amendment is part of the United States Constitution in a short portion called the United States Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights is one of the high laws of our land. “It guarantees that the United States government can never deprive people in the United States of certain fundamental rights,” according to aclu.org. The first amendment states that “congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof: or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press: or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances,” according to nccs.net. This means that us as Americans have the right to...
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...to regulate commerce among all states and that the New York law was unconstitutional. Barron v. Baltimore (1833) (1) Constitutional Question: Does the Fifth Amendment deny Federal and State governments the authority to take private property for their use without properly compensating the owner? (2) In 1833, John Baron was the co-owner of a successful wharf in the harbor of Baltimore, but as the city grew in size and developed, large amounts of sand started to accumulate in the wharf, reducing its profitability. Baron, feeling that the city was had ruined his business by dumping all the extra sediment around his wharf, making the wharf too shallow for most boats to dock. Baron sued the state of Baltimore for compensation in what he claimed was a violation of the Fifth Amendment, which states that the government cannot take private property for public use without just compensation. The state court found that the city had violated the Constitution and awarded Baron $4,500 in damages, however an appellate court had reversed the charge. Baron then appealed to the Supreme Court. (3) The Supreme Court ruled against Baron, stating that while the Fifth Amendment did in fact restrict the National Government from taking private property for public use without proper compensation, the Fifth Amendment did not apply to states. They ruled that, since the states had drafted their own governments, the State of Maryland had not infringed upon the Constitution and therefore the Supreme...
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...Most people generally accept that as a country, America was founded on religions principals. Many of the writings of the founding fathers, including our own Declaration of Independence, include religious doctrine as not only the partial justification for our separation from mother England but also as a part of the vision of how our new nation would be successful. Over time, our society and culture have changed so that today, even though people claim to be religious, religion is certainly not as main stream in our culture as it once was. By better understanding our society in colonial America, how the denominational makeup of churchgoers has changed, how our legal system has both protected and not protected religion’s presence in our daily lives, the influence of different organizations and social movements on religious practices and perceptions, the change in how Christians are perceived and finally the changes in the message that the church is preaching the reader will be able to understand not only how America has changed but also how contemporary Christian leaders and organizations are trying to remain relevant and consistent with God’s word. Colonial America & Our Founding Fathers From the settling of our nation to the Revolutionary War, religion was much more a part of mainstream society. The pervasive nature of religion had an impact on those who led the fight for our freedom. The period of history leading up to the Revolutionary War is commonly referred to as the...
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