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I think public schools should refrain from advocating religion period. they need not head prayers of any kind. if a kid wants to pray, then that's fine.. he or she can do so, that's their own personal choice. they have the freedom to practice their own personal religion. but no public school or teacher should direct students to do so. even if they say it's not mandatory to pray it's still not the schools place, especially given that it's a government institution. the only places prayer and worship should be advocated and/or directed should be houses of worship and one's own home.

if you go to a public school (and are in the USA) then it's against the US Constitution. if you go to a religious school then prayer is pretty much expected.

I agree with about everyone else so far, prayer in schools is wrong. I mean, what happened to separation of church and state, schools definitely falls into the state category.

Well, I can't really say a lot, as I'm from Britain where schools take a different approach to religion. I am, however, led to understand that the teaching of Religion is banned in America, wheras here 'Religion Education' is a fully fledged subject - and at lower school we prayed every day in assembly.

I highly doubt it, I think that having religion in schools would probably start more violence due to the fact that most current large religions dislike eachother

As a recent University graduate (just so you can kinda get my age in mind) I'm all for prayer in school. The so called separation of Church and State doesn't mean that it's wrong to pray in public schools. It means that the State will not dictate what religion we are to fallow. Freedom of religion. And, in my opinion, denying someone the right to pray in public school is denying their freedom. And the schools have no problem teaching evolution and global warming. (which I believe are both religions. That could create quite the debate there. But it wasn't too long ago that we were heading towards an Ice Age, which I was taught in school. And once we thought the world was flat and the sun traveled around us.) In short, praying is cool, even if you pray and worship a different God then I do.

Now, about violence, I don't really think so. We will be who we will be. We can't change people, only they can change themselves. In short, if they want to be violent, we can only do so much to change it. So forcing prayer on them wont help. But if they wanted to change prayer would be perfect, because God has the power to help us make weaknesses into strengths.

as I said in my initial post, if a kid wants to pray, then that's fine.. it's his or her choice. if they want to say a prayer before eating lunch or at the beginning of the school day there is no problem with that. *that* is what "freedom of religion" means. it doesnt mean that the school can lead their students in prayer of any kind. it's not the schools *place* to do so. prayer isnt their responsibility, education is. they're not ministers, nor are they the childrens parents. they are the only authorities (with the obvious exception of religious schools like catholic schools for example) that should be allowed to dictate when one prays, how one prays, or that they pray at all.