Abstract

The research paper discusses the issue as to whether God in school is justified or not. It cited example of a school in New Jersey and talks of the confusions that many schools have regarding the clash between The Free Exercise clause and the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.

God in School

Introduction

According to The First Amendment, “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.” (Hentoff, p. 6)

The Free Exercise clause seems in contrast with the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. As per the Free Exercise Clause, a child has the right to express his though that may come in the ambit of religion. He can do so in any of his assignments and even as a valedictorian. I personally believe that God in school is more of a right of the child than a choice of school.

God in school

The opponents of God in school argue that the school's teaching of religion means that the school is favoring one form of religion over the other (Haynes, p. 9). This is not true in that the school may have a diverse culture of students coming in. Almost all schools in the US do not have Christian and catholic students only. There are also students who belong to other religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and others. BY emphasizing on the need for God in school I am not suggesting that the school should be teaching only one form of religion. I think that the best strategy would be to stay sensitive to other religions also. This is possible in that the school may hire teachers who can teach different students the religion that they follow. This will cover the debate that the schools by brining God in school will be promoting a certain religion.

I am a strong proponent of God in school because I feel it is the right of every children and the responsibility of every educator to teach his student religion that he belongs to and help him understand his religion better. Learning is a lifelong process. It is a lifelong process not only in the field of worldly fields but also in the field of religion. Ask any religious scholar and they will tell you that their path on the learning curve has been an unending journey to get the best from what their religion has to offer (Wagner, p. 156).

No religion in the world tells a human to become evil. They all have good in them. All the religions in the world attempt to make their followers a better human being. According to Jean-Jacques Rousseau who is a philosopher, when he gave his philosophy of education through his book Émile, he said that the primary duty of a man is to be human (Knippenberg, p. 2). Moreover, this ...