There are many different philosophies regarding prayer in public school. It seems to be a difficult issue to decide upon. The opinions are wide-ranging and convoluted. This paper will attempt to highlight the many ideas and opinions as to whether prayers in public school should be allowed and to what extent. It will further show how our founders' idea of a separate church and state has been taken out of context and why prayer in school should be allowed, but not required.

The first opinion to evaluate is that there should be absolutely no prayer of any kind in public schools. Bob Croddy has been teaching for almost 30 years and he wrote an article for the NEA Today opposing any type of prayer in school, including a moment of silence (NEA). In his article he first cites the Constitution's First Amendment; "Congress shall make...