Just eight letters that have since the beginning of our great nation instill fear, discrimination, injustice, intolerance, and persecution. Just these eight letters have transcended over time to become the foundation of personal and political debates within our public school sector. No matter what your personal belief, these eight letters have affected or will affect the core of your academic existence once you enter the public school system.
David M. Ackerman states, “Few issues in American public life have proven to be as persistent and as controversial as the issue of prayer and religion in the public schools.” (Ackerman, 2001, p. 2) The issues revolving around religion have raged turmoil in Legislative and Judicial branches as well as in local court rooms, classrooms, and private homes. Case by case has emerged since the 1940’s when the Supreme Court held the federal government and state accountable to the Freedom of Religion and Establishment Clauses.
Religion, regardless of your denomination or irreligion, is uncomfortable and awkward. Religion has always been viewed as a personal choice, practiced within the home and/or church, and out in the public school system displays of religion is seen as a moral spectacle that is not tolerated because of persecution from many different denominations. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines religion as “the service and worship of God or the supernatural, a commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance, a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices, archaic and scrupulous conformity,conscientiousness, a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.” (Webster, 2012) Whatever your definition or belief of religion one thing holds true. The essence of religion is at the core controversial.