Prayer In School

In the wake of the Virginia Tech incident and for years hearing the claim that by taking prayer out of school we have taken God out of school, I would like to ponder this topic today.

Has taken prayer out of school caused such incidents as that at Virginia Tech and the lack of morality we see across America today?

Honestly, I am not convinced of such. We have Christian schools and colleges that have prayer, preaching, Bible classes, teaching, and studying and ashamedly find that we have most things in common with public schools and colleges that do not have prayer and Bible in them.

For one, we should not expect the school system to be the ones to teach our children how to pray or to teach them the importance of prayer. According to scripture, this is the responsibility first to the parent [Deuteronomy 6:7; Deuteronomy 11:19], second to the church [Ephesians 4:11-12].

Although a person may be told that they cannot pray out loud where the entire school must pause for a moment of silence, they have not told the student they cannot pray at all. Does prayer actually have to be done out loud for God to hear it?

My point is not to be in favor of no prayer in school, but to point out that is not why there is a moral decline in America. Christian morality is digressing, not progressing and for this cause we are seeing a swing into an anti-God era. The more Christians preach to the lost to change while we show no change in ourselves, society will continue to decline – even if prayer were still aloud in all the schools.

Are you teaching your child how and why to pray? If not, then don’t be mad at the school system. If you are, then make sure they know that it doesn’t have to be out loud for all to see.

Remember God said it begins with His people [2 Chronicles 7:14], not the world. Do your job as a godly parent and don’t rely on the school system.