Should prayer be permitted in public schools?

issue revision:

'condone' is too loaded and the wrong term.  i like keeping the issue general like this because all of the issues Donovan raises can come in a subissue(s) down the road.  i do not see the need for "public prayer"  i am fine with school prayer.  i do not think anyone can rationally argue that we cannot allow atheist annie to privately pray in at her desk.  i like whicker's latest suggestion, although i am not sure we need the third position he suggest.  I'd keep it to Yes and No.  Talk about atheist annie in the blogs.

eh. i don't really want to atomize this subject too much. i'd rather try and keep it to a single catch-all issue. what about something like,

Should public school officials condone public prayers in school?

Having once upon a time led a Bible study in a public school, Esperanto is right. 

Maybe something more specific - getting at some of the big court cases on the subject.

"Should public prayers be permitted at major school functions?"
or
"Should a moment of silence be authorized at public schools to allow time for daily prayer?"

I think you're probably right, but your suggestion gets back to my original concern. Nobody can stop, nor should they seek to stop, people from praying privately and inconspicuously in school. If you want to offer one up to the big man before the geometry final, that's your prerogative. If you want to lead the rest of the class in prayer, that's where we have a problem. Am I right? The school prayer debate is about prayers that are public and condoned or even led by school officials, is it not? Or is there more to this than I realized?

I like the new question.  It definitely gets to the heart of the issue, but I'm not sure it will generate a lot of discussion (I could be wrong).  I don't think a lot of people will argue that officials should be allowed to lead prayers.

Maybe if we made it more general:

Should prayer be allowed in public schools?

Then people could deal with the specifics in their blogs.  Radio buttons could reflect various viewpoints.

• Yes
• Yes, but only when not instigated or required by school officials
• No

I agree with Whicker; "public prayer" was a poor example. What I'm saying is that the wording is redundant because "school prayer" cannot, by definition, take place anywhere other than a school. I want the wording to be more specific here. How about something like this:

Should public school officials be allowed to lead students in prayer?

Do we need something broader also?

By "school prayer" I get the idea of a school wide prayer led by an administrator.  If we changed it to "public prayer", I think we lose that sense of authority involvment.  For some people there is no difference, but I feel very differently about an administrator instigating a prayer and a student exercising their freedom to pray publicly while at school.

Good issue, but needs a little more clarity. "School prayer" is kind of a buzzword that stands in for a lot of different issues. My suggestion would be to narrow this question down to "public prayer" or something like that.