Ayasha Husseini Mrs. Johnson AC ELA 8th Grade May 07, 2014Prayer in Public Schools"I do not believe that any type of religion should ever be introduced into public schools in the United States." -Thomas Edison. Religion and prayer in public schools are a major controversy for schools in the United States. School officials cannot side with religion because that would violate the First Amendment which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Establishing a specific religion in public schools violates the First Amendment, so public schools must remain neutral when it comes to religious issues. Some people believe that religious teaching should not be allowed because it violates the separation of church and state, but this is not true. There are many issues regarding religion in public schools, however exercising one's personal religion independently is not one of them. (Leitch, 1)Many believe that public schools are there to educate, not to proselytize. Mixing religion and school is not appropriate since schools are public and religion is private. Public schools are open to all, whether Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, atheist or Christian. (Gaylor) People of all religions pay the taxes that support schools; therefore it is not appropriate to impose a specific religion on all students. Your personal religion is your decision; the government and schools cannot interfere with it. It is unconstitutional for the government to decide your religion for you. Government-imposed prayer would violate religious freedom because it imposes a certain religion on all students. Allow students......middle of paper......est, Jr., Clifford B. Stearns, and Strom Thurmond. "Should a constitutional amendment on school prayer be passed by Congress? PRO." EBSCOhost. MAS Ultra - School Edition, nd Web. March 10, 2014. Kynaston, David and George Kynaston. “Berlin Wall Education.” New Statesman 143.4 (2014): 22-29. Literary reference center. Leitch, Keith A. "School Prayer." Dictionary of American History. Student Resources in Context, 2003. 265-266. web .Lofaso, Anne Marie. Religion in public schools: A roadmap to avoid lawsuits and respect parents' legal rights. . Washington, DC: Americans United for Separation of Church and State, 2009. Web. .Religion in the Public Schools-Prayer in the Public Schools. March 28, 2014. RELIGION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS – RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN AMERICA AND OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Third Avenue, NY: Anti-Defamation League, 2012. Web.