Prayer

Students have the right to participate in individual or group prayer and religious discussion during the school day as long as:

1. they are able to engage in a comparable activity.

2. they’re prayer is not disruptive to the normal functioning of the school.

A comparable activity would be talking. If, during lunch, students can get together and speak to one another about music or other subjects then likewise, students can get together and talk about the Bible or other religious material or “talk” to God through prayer. Also, if students are allotted a small amount of time in-class to prepare for a test before it’s given, then a student may sit quietly and pray.

It would not be appropriate to get out of your seat, kneel on the floor and pray before a test, assuming that the teacher prefers that his or her students sit in their seats during preparation.

Here’s another example: Let’s assume that a school system allows its students to talk “out-loud” to one another during lunch (as most do.) It would be appropriate for a student to do the same to God at that time. However, it would be inappropriate to yell a prayer to God, as yelling in most school lunch rooms is disallowed. Although this may seem like common sense, please understand that common sense is not all that common anymore. There have been many cases taken to court involving students that have been suspended for both silently praying to themselves and praying with others during lunchtime in public schools systems.

The content on this page has been reviewed by The Rutherford Institute.