Mikayla D.

24th October 2016

Dear Future President,

Congratulations on winning the Presidential election. I hope that your term as president goes extremely well with little to no problems. I have noticed an issued that I would like to bring to your attention. That issue would be keeping God in school.

Whenever God comes up in conversation, especially in schools, people get very fidgety and instantly try to change the subject. If a buddhist asked a question concerning a topic that goes with or against their religion, people would stop and apologize to them, however not with Christianity. If they wear any form of clothing promoting Jesus or christianity in any way, they are told to please change and not to wear this again because it could be considered offensive. Christians can not pray or carry Christian themed notebooks, binder covers (“9 reasons Why”). June 25, 1962, God was removed from schools by the Supreme Court. Since this decision, people see on the news more terrible things, including school shootings, students involved in illegal activity, rape (Starr). God needs to be put back into schools before it is too late. God needs to be put back into schools because student behaviors have massively declined, the students’ commitment to their education, and increase in illegal activity.

In 1963 to the present year , the environment and student behavior in and of itself has dramatically declined. When God was in the school system, many students’ interest in school was greater. Now, more students are involved in illegal or sexual activity. There has been an increase in bullying too (Starr). It is said that the increasing in talking, and other disruptive and disrespectful behavior is due to the removal of God in schools (Starr). A student named Mackenzie put Bible verses into a school project. Her teacher told her she should avoid anything biblical. She is not the only student that has dealt with a situation where they were directly told to not use a biblical reference. Christian students are feeling like they can not talk about their faith openly (“Why are Schools”). Another example of students spreading the gospel was when a group of cheerleaders were talking freely about their faith at a football game. June of the next year, there was a lawsuit filed against them. (Freeze) Separation of church and state is something many people know about.

On January 1, 1802, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to Danbury Baptists; in this letter he discussed where the idea of separation of church and state came from. Everyone knows what separation of church and state is, but what they did not realize is that the way they learned it is incorrect (“All About…”). Americans knows it as the way the state preventing the church from getting involved into governmental decisions. Thomas Jefferson created that statement to keep the state out of church affairs. Congress is not supposed to make laws regarding religion. This means that congress can not pass a law making restrictions against a religion (“All About…”).

Some people believe that God should not be put back into schools. They believe that schools should be only for learning academics. They want to know which religion’s god would be put in schools. What type of Christianity would it be?(Buetow). Adam Hamilton stated in “Put God back in school?”, “If we’re going to put God in schools, which God are we talking about?”. A parent’s and church's job is to educate their children about God (Hamilton). Rev. Mark Buetow stated in “Don’t Put God Back in School”, “ Kids go to school to learn how to read, write, do arithmetic, learn geography….not to learn their morals and opinions from someone’s concept of God.” Schools should focus on academics, math, science, english. Adam Hamilton also stated in his article, “ When my kids were growing up I wanted their teachers to teach them science, reading, math and history.” He does not want teachers to education them on morals. What he has not thought about is the educational and behavioral decreases in schools.

There is not a law preventing it because separation of church and state does not allow the state to get involved in church business (“All About…”). This means that congress it not supposed to remove God from schools. My suggestion to fix this issue is to slowly allow God back into the schools systems. The student's’ behavior will become more respectful. The teenage illegal activity will decrease too.If my idea works many schools and students would slowly get used to this new adjustment. Thank you for your time and listening to the my solution to the keeping God in schools problem.

Sincerely,

Mikayla D.

Works Cited

“9 Reasons Why We Need God in School.” All the Right News, www.alltherightnews.com/9-reasons-why-we-need-god-in-schools/9/.

Buetow, Mark, Rev. “Don’t Put God Back in Schools.” Higher Things, higherthings.org/myht/articles/life_issues/dont-put-god-back-in-schools.

Freeze, Trevor. “Taking God Out of School.” Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, 19 Oct. 2012, billygraham.org/story/taking-god-out-of-school/. Accessed 6 Oct. 2106.

Hamilton, Adam. “Put God Back in Public Schools?” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc., www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-hamilton/put-god-back-in-public-schools_b_2409326.html.

“Separation of Church and State.” All About..., AllAboutHistory.org, www.allabouthistory.org/separation-of-church-and-state.htm. Accessed 6 Oct. 2016.

Starr, Penny. “Education Expert: Removing Bible, Prayer from Public Schools Has Caused Decline.” Cnsnews.com, Media Research Center, Aug. 2014, www.cnsnews.com/news/article/penny-starr/education-expert-removing-bible-prayer-public-schools-has-caused-decline. Accessed 6 Oct. 2016.

“Supreme Court Rulings on School Prayer & Bible Reading.” Supreme Court Rulings on School Prayer & Bible Reading, June 2015, www.free2pray.info/2schoolprayerrulings.html.

“Why Are Schools Banning Bible Verses?” Focus on the Family , Jim Daly,

http://jimdaly.focusonthefamily.com/schools-banning-bible-verses/.