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Pew Research

“Overall, 52% of Americans support allowing teachers to lead their classes in prayers that refer to Jesus, with 27% strongly in favor of this idea. On the other hand, 46% of those surveyed oppose letting teachers lead their classes in such prayers, with 22% strongly opposing the idea.” - CPost

Discussion

Mon, 06/30/25

Count me as one who opposes. We don't need to mandate unsaved individuals praying to a God they don't believe in, with a message that is mandated in front of students. This doesn't reflect God.

Mon, 06/30/25

No one should be asked to pray outside of their beliefs.

I don’t have a problem with “allowed” as long as it’s clear that praying with the teacher is not mandatory.

Mon, 06/30/25

Asking if prayer to Jesus should be "mandated" would have been a different survey than asking if it should be "allowed." If a different question were asked, I would expect a different result.

Mon, 06/30/25

What if a Muslim teacher wants to lead the class in prayer to Allah? What if a Buddhist teacher wants to have the class bow to The Buddha?

Even “allowed” is a can of worms, depending on who is allowed and under what conditions.

So I lean toward dgszweda’s view. There was a time when Christianity as a majority cultural religion benefited from that kind of shared religious ritual (believing or not), but this is a different day and I really doubt we’re going back.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Tue, 07/01/25

I vividly remember a "prayer" offered by some professor at my graduation from Michigan State, mostly a collection of wit intended to show the erudition of the "prayer", and I asked God to forgive me because I couldn't just walk out. Remembering the character of some of my public school teachers, I reckon that if we'd had class prayers when I was a kid, the overall effect would have been the same at times. I had some gems, but there were some Baby Ruth bars in the swimming pool too, if you catch my drift.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

Tue, 07/01/25

You're probably right.

Tue, 07/01/25

I had some gems, but there were some Baby Ruth bars in the swimming pool too, if you catch my drift.

Yup!

Humans being what they are.

Lots of ideas seem great at any location other than where they will be executed!

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.