School Prayer:Pushing Religious Propaganda in Our Public Schools

School prayer, in my opinion, is an egregious violation of the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment. It espouses the message that we are a Christian nation, and that non-religious people and people of other faiths do not deserve to be represented. The prayers, as well of our "moment of silence", which is codeword for "let's all pray now", just puts Christianity above other faiths. School prayer defies the basic principles of separation of church and state, because it favors one religion over another. David Souter, in a This would also make the statement "Cab Calloway School of the Arts does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, or disability in its programs, activities, or employment practices as required by Title VI, Title IX, and Section 504” untrue.
Another part of school prayer is the “moment of silence”. It is a “moment of prayer” (poorly) masquerading as a “moment of silence”. While I am silent during the moment of silence, I believe that it serves no other purpose than prayer. In Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet (1994), David Souter wrote with the majority that “Government should not prefer one religion over another, or religion to irreligion.” The moment of silence, has, as far as I can see, clearly does the latter, and it has no “secular purpose”. In Wallace v. Jaffree (1985), the Supreme Court found an Alabama law which provided for a “moment of silence” to be unconstitutional, although it did not find the moment itself to be unconstitutional.
School prayer violates two of the three criteria in the “Lemon Test”, which was a test to see whether or not a law violates the Establishment Clause by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger in Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971). A law must pass all three requirements to be considered constitutional. While school prayer does not create excessive government entanglement with religion, it has no secular purpose and it has the primary affect of advancing religion. Also, as far as I can see, there is no reason to have a “moment of silence” or to have organized prayer. There is absolutely no reason for it other than to rub it in the faces of non-religious people. In conclusion, school prayer is a bad idea because it violates the spirit of the Constitution.