Muslim Prayer in Public Schools

Are Public Schools Accommodating Islam Over Christianity?

Aug 19, 2007 Barbara Pytel

For years, Christian prayer has been banned in public schools. Now, Muslims are demanding prayer time and getting it.

Public Schools And Prayer

In 2000, Congress passed the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. This act demanded many religious accommodations to be made on public property. In 1993, a federal court mandated a San Diego district to allow students to have religious activities during lunchtime.

In spite of this, we hear of teachers being fired for silently reading a personal Bible during a study hall. Students are not allowed to have student-led Christian prayer at graduations. Students from parochial schools are denied open gym time at the local public school in their district.

New Accommodations

There are pockets throughout the country that have concentrations of Muslim students.

• San Diego, CA
• Dearborn, MI
• Dallas, TX
• New York City, NY

These schools are giving the Islamic students breaks to pray during the school day. In fact, the complaint has been made that an extra recess was created in the San Diego district just for prayer.

How Much Prayer?

According to Akram Shami, from the Islamic Center of Southern California in Los Angeles, "We pray to God, we worship God, and we recite verses from the Koran. Prayer is typical at noon or 1 p.m. but there are five daily prayers." [Randy Dotinga, The Christian Science Monitor, scmonitor.com, July 12, 2007] Shami goes on to say that in some public schools, students leave classes momentarily or even wait to pray when they get home.

At Carver Elementary School in San Diego students are praying 15 minutes during an afternoon recess and an hour after lunch. Extra breaks were put into the school day this year to accommodate 100 Muslim students that transferred from a closed Arabic languge program.

No Child Left Behind

Because of the No Child Left Behind mandate, many schools are eliminating recesses to allow more time for reading and math. Even science is being pushed to the back burner to allow more time for teaching. Lengthening the schools day is being considered and all-year school is becoming popular to aid in student information retention. With all this being demanded in other schools, it is surprising that some public schools are adding a recess for religious prayer.

Christian Demands

Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute is asking the school district to provide rooms for Christians to pray, as well. "The school policy presumes that Christians are less religious and less inspired to worship and praise the Lord and come together," says Dacus." [Randy Dotinga, The Christian Science Monitor, scmonitor.com, July 12, 2007]

Court Involvement

Lisa Soronen, attorney with the National School Boards Association, says, "Most Americans don’t think about the fact that schools naturally accommodate Christians. There’s no school on Sunday, and we get days off for most of the major Christian holidays." Soronen added that the courts have not ruled on this issue so there is no precedent. Since the American Civil Liberties Union has remained silent on Muslim prayer, it may be up to Christian groups to take this matter to the courts. Meanwhile, schools are unclear how to handle the issue.

Read previous articles on Educational Issues.

Copyright article 2007 Barbara Pytel. All Rights Reserved.

The copyright of the article Muslim Prayer in Public Schools in Educational Issues is owned by Barbara Pytel. Permission to republish Muslim Prayer in Public Schools in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Muslim Prayer In Public Schools

Christian Prayer Not Allowed

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May 6, 2008 10:48 AM

Guest :

It seems as if the Muslims can delay their noon or one o' clock prayers until after school without being disrespectful of their practices. Then why not have them wait? If they must have a noon or one o' clock prayer, they should do it over the lunch time. Any special accomodations requiring extra cost to the district or business should be borne by the Muslims, such as foot-washing facilities, etc.
To ask any school district or employer to bear extra cost is discriminatory in favor of Muslims. It seems as if we are living in a time period of ultra-political correctness,... (oh please don't dare offend any special interest group, or minority) Yes, it is true that the dominant culture in the US is non-Muslim.... immigrants: DEAL WITH IT ! You aren't in the Middle East,.. by your own choice now. Do not expect our society to make large changes to accomodate you. Either fit in, adapt to your new home or leave.

Sep 21, 2008 10:14 PM

Guest :

Our country (USA) which our soldiers lay down thier lives for every day and are given grief on having places to pray, was based on Christianity. Our fore fathers were Christians, our laws and Constitution was based on the bible. We have had our rights stripped away as Christians and still everyday have to fight for them. Yes as Christians we do pray all day!!!! We pray for our children, our leaders, our troops!!!! It takes an ignorant non Christian to say we dont deserve prayer time. Go to Church, a real family oriented church and you will find out you dont know what you are talking about. Thats why children and society are so corrupt today, they took prayer out of the schools and shut off all outlets for Christians to try to reach troubled children and adults. Todays society is the product of shutting off the Christians. Dont let them speak. Now, we are trying to make accomidations for another religion!! Slap us Americans again, were use to it!!!!!

Oct 3, 2008 4:45 PM

Guest :

Christians already have special treatment in school systems and have since the beginning. Times are changing and with that change comes compromises. To let muslims pray during recess or step out during class should not be a big deal especially since they are going to pray and not to cause trouble. Every school that needs it should provide prayer rooms for all religions (even temporarily empty classrooms could be used). To get angry or disstressed over this is ridiculous. there are many different people who follow different religions...DEAL WITH IT or keep your opinions to yourself because who really cares about what you say about someone else's religious practices.

Oct 3, 2008 8:36 PM

Barbara Pytel :

I think the rub is that Christians are not allowed to do the same. Teachers are fired for reading a Bible during free reading time, students are not allowed to have a graduation prayer, and prayer is not allowed at any time in classrooms. So, when the Muslims get their prayer time and a room when the Christians are denied, this is an issue.

Oct 12, 2008 1:51 PM

Guest :

You guys are making it a big deal. As if most Christians pray daily! Most of them pray on one day - Sunday. It isn't even seen because of religion anymore, its more of a tradition. IF you guys WANTED time to pray at your school/work, you would've ASKED for it. The Muslims are asking, so they got it. If Christians/Jews really cared about praying as much as Muslims do, they would've understood it completely and not made a huge deal about it. So what? They take 15 mins from the school day to pray, and suddenly AMERICA is being taken over by the MUSLIMS? No, I don't think so. The reason for all the hate is because that is what you guys are all used to. You hear the words "Muslim" or "Islam", and the first thing that pops into your head is "TERRORIST!!!".
And as for the rest of you who are saying "This isn't the middle east, get over it!"; what ever happened to religious freedom? I thought that was a reason many people came years ago -- because they were seeking religious freedom. Lately it seems as if America is a Christian country. Just because the dominant culture in America isn't Islam does not mean that all Muslims have to become Christians or Jews.

Oct 13, 2008 8:32 AM

Guest :

You don't get it. Christians "have" asked and were told no. That is why this is such a big deal.

Oct 15, 2008 5:08 PM

Guest :

The statement that "for years, Christian prayer has been banned in public schools" is a myth. In fact, laws in the United States do not prohibit student-led prayer in public schools, regardless of the students' religion. The law does prohibits teachers or other staff from leading students in prayer for the obvious reasons that these people are in a position of authority over students. Perpetuating myths does not help ensure that anyone's rights are upheld; it can only mire us in more intolerance and ignorance regardless of our religion. The reason Christian groups have not taken the issue to court is that there is no issue: Christian prayer is fine so long as there is no "captive" audience, which would certainly be the case at a graduation ceremony.

Oct 15, 2008 5:21 PM

Guest :

In response to the issue of foot-washing facilities, these were installed in Michigan because Christian students were complaining about the Muslims washing their feet in the sinks.

On another note, our country was not founded as a Christian country. Take a look at the Constitution and you will see that freedom of religion was intended and ensured by our founding fathers, many of whom belonged to what were, at the time, fringe religious groups by European standards.

The guest who writes about our troops being slapped in the face is overlooking the fact that many of them are fighting to defend our freedom, including freedom of religion, and that many of these are non-Christians or Christians who are tolerant of other religions. And yes, I know what I am talking about. Mine is a proud military family, and we look to the Constitution to define our sense of what is American. "American" is not defined by religion but by freedom. It's not a free country when we start demanding that everyone in it become just like us.

Oct 23, 2008 6:41 AM

Guest :

u guyz are retarded we r guna stand up for our religion and our right so u guys can get over it!!

Oct 23, 2008 7:58 AM

Guest :

The reader is very wrong about prayer in public schools. Our local school will not permit any convocation or anything resembling prayer even by a minister at our high school graduations. Kids have asked to have a room before the school day began or after school was out to have a student led Bible study and were denied. Our Christian Athletes club was denied space to meet. I you live in a liberal part of the country like I do, the courts won't interpret the law in our favor. So, the person that said Christians are denied is correct, at least where we live.

Nov 13, 2008 7:44 AM

Guest :

i think muslims should be allowed to pray in schools. if christians had a prayer time that was scheduled during school hours i would say they should be allowed to pray during that time too. but the fact is Christians dont and Muslims do. So let them pray. And to the person who left the comment about not being in the Middle East. Not to call you ignorant but um not all Muslims come from the middle east and not all of them are immigrants.

Nov 17, 2008 9:09 PM

Guest :

Wow. You know why christians haven't asked for a special room to pray? It's because our religion doesn't demand us to go pray at certain times. This does not mean that we only pray on Sunday or that we never pray, it just means that when they said "no prayer in schools" some people took it a little to seriously. yes, student led prayer is not "illegal", but nowadays everyone is so scared of getting in trouble for not "seperating church from state" (that's not even in the constitution by the way) that if anyone does pray(out loud, in group settings) they get harped on. And now muslims come in and get a room and a time out of class for it? If I was having a hard day and I stepped out of class for 10 minutes of prayer (and if I said that that was my reason for leaving the class or I just left) in a public school I would either A) get yelled at for leaving w/o asking B) get told no for asking to leave for this reason C) get credit taken away or D)get marked a "tardy" even though I wasn't tardy. Seems a bit hypocritical if you ask me.

Dec 2, 2008 7:55 PM

Guest :

Our countries forefathers believed that all people are created equal and that religion should not be forced upon any citizen by the government. Somehow this has translated into removing opportunities for school children to feel free to pray to or speak about the God our ancestors credit with bringing us to this land.
Now, our educational system feels compelled, in the interest of tolerance, or just to prove they are not predjudice, to compromise to accommodate other religions - to support their freedom to pray inside the very walls we were told we could not.
By the way, the New Testament says to pray without ceasing. So, eliminating prayer from part of my childrens' day is also against the word of my God. It may surprise you to know that true christians pray all day long even when you aren't aware of it. We don't need a specific time or place...And many times we are praying for you.
The issue is that these modifications that allow for muslim prayer in schools comes just after they robbed christians of that right (which they held for hundreds of years). Let's keep this in perspective and keep it fair.
We can love all people and cultures without robbing them of their freedom to worship. But we cannot allow one religion that right while refusing others.
Just a thought...If we moved to a muslim country would we expect children living there to quit praying to Allah in school?
Tricia

Dec 4, 2008 10:01 PM

Guest :

Please be aware that Born again believers pray everyday, not just on sundays. In Chapter 6 of the Book of Daniel he kneeled down and prayed three times a day. As a christian, I pray daily.

Feb 3, 2009 10:35 AM

Guest :

There are many wiser people than I who could comment here, and I've debated doing so. Christianity has had it's down side. People have used thier power or so-called 'wisdom' to turn it into that which it wasn't ment to be. Truth however is that in the end, when Life is all over, either you're going to end up in heaven, hell, or you don't exist. Forgetting non-existance for the moment; I'm going to have to focus on the fact that the Holy Bible's Old Testament has yet to be proven False by any Historical Document. The New Testament has been 99.6% historically verified... A .4% chance that it could be proved wrong is really not reason enough for me to risk spending my eternity in hell.
In my limited knowlege of the Koran I am familiar with the fact that it does consider Jesus a Prophet, although not GODS SON... That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Jesus continuosly claimed to be Gods Son... SO either A.)He never said that B.) He was lying which would make him against GOD (A.K.A.NOT A PROPHET) or C.)He really is God's SON.
I also am familiar that Mohammad lived about 700 years after Jesus was risen. During his life time he killed many who would not join his belief system. He dosen't sound like a person who is representing GOD. Jesus on the other hand spoke of showing kindness to others in order to bring them to God... He requested his followers not hold grudges, but rather forgive, and to leave judgement to God.
In any case Muslim is moving into our schools, there really isn't much we can do about it. The end of Days will be upon us shortly and Satan will have his reign, in the meantime I hope you will spread the truth about Christ's love and Gods very character. He wants his people to come to him through love... if he wanted to force us to love him he wouldn't have needed Muhammad.

Feb 13, 2009 3:32 PM

Guest :

First of all i respect that some Christians do pray on a daily bases but from the Christians I know, the are not required to pray at certain times during the day. On the other hand Mulsims do pray five times a day and are required to pray during certain time periods throughout the day. Now if a student asks to leave the classroom for 10 minutes to pray then so what? As long as the student is not disrupting any other students they are aloud to pray individualy. Christians have not been denied their right to pray. At my highschool students do pray at the flag pole in the morning with out trouble. I also wanted to state that not all Muslims are immagrants or from the middle east. I am a Muslim, I was born in America and have lived here all my life. I'm African and Hispanic and my parents were origonally Christians so when people say that all Muslims are from the middle east that's when i know they don't have their facts straight. Banning school prayer and religous freedom is against what this country stands for and I take it as offensive when people try to take away that right from students.Being an AMERICAN Muslim, I pray during school hours with the permission of both teachers and counclers. And it's actually very simple, i just use a classroom or room that is not being used with out disturbing anyone. They have been kind enough to understand my beliefs and for anyone who would like to take that away needs to think twice.

Feb 13, 2009 3:44 PM

Cherice Jones :

First of all I respect that some Christians do pray on a daily bases but from the Christians I know, they are not required to pray at certain times during the day. On the other hand Muslims do pray five times a day and are required to pray during certain time periods throughout the day. Now if a student asks to leave the classroom for 10 minutes to pray then so what? As long as the student is not disrupting any other students they are allowed to pray individually. Christians have not been denied their right to pray. At my high school students do pray at the flag pole in the morning without trouble. I also wanted to state that not all Muslims are immigrants or from the Middle East. This is a common stereotype. I am a Muslim; I was born in America and have lived here all my life. I'm African and Hispanic and my parents were originally Christians so when people say that all Muslims are from the middle east that's when I know they don't have their facts straight. Banning school prayer and religious freedom is against what this country stands for and I take it as offensive when people try to take away that right from students. Being an AMERICAN Muslim, I pray during school hours with the permission of both teachers and counselors. And it's actually very simple; I just use a classroom or room that is not being used without disturbing anyone. They have been kind enough to understand my beliefs and for anyone who would like to take that away needs to think twice.

Apr 13, 2009 3:33 PM

Guest :

I am a Muslim and I wait till I get home from school, do my "noon" prayer then, and then I do my afternoon prayer around four. I am the only Muslim in my school and I am too shy to ask for permission to pray during school. Christians are already the best treated in public schools. In my school we have a cultures unit. When it comes to Islam we do the lesson in a day, but spend 3 weeks on christianity.

Apr 26, 2009 7:16 PM

Guest :

We were a Christian nation - now that we are not (per Bama's speach) NO other religion sould get preferential treatment. By the way, the so called Christian holiday's that the schools get off are official government holidays - they did not stem from Chritianity as they are pagan through and through from their beginning and are from Constantine in Rome leaving the Biblical holidays to seperate from the Jews and adding Christian themes to his pagan worship days and names (get educated, Attorney Lisa Soronen!)When we least expect it we will be surprised when we see what the muslims really want out of this infidel country!

May 1, 2009 5:29 PM

Guest :

I am a mother of two boys, who has had to pay for private catholic school because I wanted them to have a good religious foundation. For those of you who said that Christians pray only once a week, you are obviously not a Christian. I for one do not want my tax dollars to pay for "a special place for Muslims to pray". It's bad enough that I have to pay for my kids, and for those who go to public school on top of that. If Muslims want a special place for their kids to pray, PAY FOR IT LIKE I DO. I am sick and tired of making concessions for every "minority", and having to pay money for it. Ridiculous. People that come to this country have to adapt to our way of life, not the other way around. Think of it this way, if you let someone come and live in your home (America is MY home), should you have to change your way of living to accommodate them, but they can do whatever they please. I think it's just plain old common sense. If I moved to Germany, I would have to learn German. I would not expect them to learn English for me. The way our country has treated all of these poor, tired, filthy, and hungry, has left them spoiled to boost. Bleeding hearts trying to give whining crybabies everything they want only spoils them, and they want more and more and more. I for one say enough. They are lucky just to live here, without their give us more attitudes. The fact that they will not adapt to this country only shows that they have no respect for it. So to reiterate as the first guest on this site said, "adapt to your new home or leave". Thanks for reading this.

May 5, 2009 8:23 AM

Guest :

You are not the only one that pays taxes!!!! I am a Muslim! I work two jobs! that means my tax money goes towards the schools too! If your kid gets to pray why shouldn't I? I moved to this country to have more freedom, to have a better life. And i am very thankful I have that.But why should I lose my beliefs and cultuer just because an ignorant lady that is as rude as you are doesn't think enough. You are acting like this is all about you and your kids. Well its not. There are plenty of other people in this world besides just you. There are Americans in my country, but we do not tell them to stop praying or practicing their religion just because they are not in America. Your comment truly upsets me! You are so selfish! And i have adapted to where i live, and I love it, but that does not mean I am gonna stop being a Muslim! And if I pay for your kids to pray in their school then one day when I have kids they should be allowed the same!!! Thank YOU for reading this comment!!!

May 16, 2009 6:32 AM

Guest :

i personally think christianity has a more influence on schools. as said in the article, there are no schools on sundays, and there are CHRISTMAS holidays as well as easter. during the december months, some teachers would talk about christmas, what it is, and there would be decorated trees in the hallways. that is something only christans do, not muslims nor anyone else. there is also assemblies on christmas, and there are events on easter. all christian. there are holidays on eid, are there? hardly anyone knows the celebrations of muslims. christianty is sometimes a topic in class, whereas no one knows a thing on islam. i'm fine with the fact that there is a lot of "christian" things going on in the school, but there should be other religons fitted as well. i don't think there should be an entire recess for prayer, but during lunch, or the regular recess, kids can go to a seperate prayer room if they want. there are somethings in the article that i agree with, such as, it is not right for a teacher to be fired reading a bible. however, i do not think muslims are "ruling" or ruining the way schools run with thier customs.

Jan 3, 2010 4:07 AM

Guest :

Come on now! Everyone's got it all wrong.
America needs to understand that not all of the country
is Christian.There a thousands of other religions. Even if Islam is not a dominant religion, letting them pray during their free time or having a class to pray in shouldn't be a problem. Nobody is accommodating Islam over Christianity BECAUSE, who is refusing to let the Christians pray in schools? Certainly not Muslims. Answer: THEIR OWN PEOPLE. So Muslims are not to be blamed or condemned to go back to their countries or whatever. Muslims are people and most of them have come to countries like America to have better lives and to live freely, just like everyone else would want. So please, quit with the racism and the extreme nationalist sentiment and get on with your lives. How irrelevant and ignorant! PS: NOT all Muslims are from the middle east and NOT all Muslims, are immigrants.
Good day!

Jan 27, 2010 8:56 AM

Guest :

Just because America has been a Christian country since it began doesn't mean that muslims should not be able to pray in school. It is a manditory part of their religion to pray from the age of 7. Prayer is one of the main parts of their religion it is clensing and helps them keep focused. Taking prayer away from them just because they want to learn at a public school is like taking away christmas break beacause christians want to learn.

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