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Why Not Prayer in School?
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# : |
13382 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
6 / 1995 |
1,509 Words |
| Author
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William J. Murray
William J. Murray is the born-again Christian son of atheist
leader Madalyn Murray O'Hair. The author of several Christian
and conservative books, he is a leading spokesman for the
return of prayer to America's schools. |
In the three decades since this landmark case, the nation has lost its moral center. Violent crime has increased from 16.1 to 75.8 incidents per 10,000 population. Juvenile violent crime arrest rates have increased from 13.7 to 40 per 10,000 population. Teen pregnancy has almost tripled from 15.3 to 43.5 per 1,000 teenage girls. Almost half of these pregnancies end in abortion. For a startling 28 percent of all live births in America today, the mothers are unwed. The teenage suicide rate has increased 400 percent since 1963.
I could go on, but the questions that beg for an answer are: Will the return of school prayer reverse the trends outlined above? If prayer were to be reinstated in the public school systems of America, would the teen pregnancy rate decline? Would the suicide rate be reversed?
The answer to all of these questions is a categorical no!
The return of prayer alone to America's schools is not the solution to these social problems. The removal of one minute of prayer in the morning did not affect the crime rate, and the return of one minute of prayer will not reverse the tide of illegitimate births. Yet, the problems of our families and the rising tide of violence and indifference for private property do indeed emanate from the 1962 and 1963 Court decisions on school prayer.
NO PLACE FOR MORAL CODE
The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Education Association used these precedent-setting decisions to "greenmail" virtually every school
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