What are some statistics on children when prayer was taken out of school?

Answer 1

A. Young People1. For 15 years before 1963 pregnancies in girls ages 15 through 19 years had been no more than 15 per thousand After 1963 pregnancies increased 187% in the next 15 years.

2. For younger girls, ages 10 to 14 years, pregnancies since 1963 are up 553%.

3. Before 1963 sexually transmitted diseases among students were 400 per 100,000. Since 1963, they were up 226% in the next 12 years.

B. The Family1. Before 1963 divorce rates had been declining for 15 years. After 1963 divorces increased 300% each year for the next 15 years.

2. Since 1963 unmarried people living together is up 353%

3. Since 1963 single parent families are up 140%.

4. Since 1963 single parent families with children are up 160%.

C. Education1. The educational standard of measure has been the SAT scores. SAT scores had been steady for many years before 1963. From 1963 they rapidly declined for 18 consecutive years, even though the same test has been used since 1941.

2. In 1974-75 the rate of decline of the SAT scores decreased, even though they continued to decline. That was when there was an explosion of private religious schools. There were only 1000 Christian schools in 1965. Between 1974 to 1984 they increased to 32,000. a. That could have an impact if the private schools had higher SAT scores. In checking with the SAT Board it was found that indeed the SAT scores for private schools were nearly 100 points higher than public schools.

b. In fact the scores were at the point where the public schools had been before their decline started in 1963 when prayer and Bible reading/ instruction was removed from the schools.

c. The scores in the public schools were still declining.

3. Of the nation's top academic scholars, three times as many come from private religious schools, which operate on one-third the funds as do the public schools.

D. The Nation

1. Since 1963 violent crime has increased 544%.

3. Illegal drugs have become an enormous & uncontrollable problem.

2. The nation has been deprived of an estimated 30 million citizens through legal abortions just since 1973.

excerpt from http://www.inplainsite.org/what_happened_when_the_praying.html

Response

The statistics posted above lack citation of any paper at the source link given. As such, it lacks critical information in determining the validity of the statistics. However, if one is willing to look, these statistics are readily available.

In any case, many of the statistics may be completely unrelated to having prayer in school. It is more likely however that it was the removal of christian

teachings and the moral values they instilled into students that is the root cause of many of these statics. While moral principles have continued to decline, so has the measurable moral fiber in the definition of what a Christian is. Today a large number of non-bible reading people call them self's Christians who are fringe followers at best. In fact some Christians today deny they believe in Jesus Christ, who encompasses the total basis behind Christianity. With his in hand, the following arguments are used to debate the above facts.

Under "A. Young People"

None of these statistics show evidence of having been caused by not praying in school. This would more likely be due to improper teaching of sexual education, in particular about proper protection via condoms and contraception. Such policies are usually taught by "abstinence only" curriculums which are generally used in the more religious areas.

As all statistics of areas which teach "abstinence only" show an increase in pregnancy and STDs as compared to areas which teach a full sex education course, it should be concluded lack of sex education is the factor, not a lack of prayer.

Under "B. The Family"1.) Unless children are getting married in grade school and high school, lack of prayer in school would not be a factor in divorce rates.

2.) People living together before they are married has been shown to have very little significance on divorce rates, especially if the couple is engaged to be married before moving in together. The biggest factors in divorce lie in other factors, not among when people start living together.

3.) Divorce rates are HIGHEST among born again christians and jews, and LOWEST among atheists/agnostics. If lack of prayerin school is a factor, it's a good thing for divorce rates.

Under "C. Education"This entire section says nothing about the increased cuts for public eduction and uses only the SAT as the guage. As the SAT is generally used on the coasts while the ACT is used throughout the middle of the USA, including most of The Bible Belt.

Also surprising is that this test was first used 1959, just a few years before the afformentioned decrease in SAT scores.

It also neglects to mention that throughout the 50s, 60s, and 70s, the test was not standardized. Time periods for sections constantly changed as well as what the sections tested. Since the tests changed, one can not expect the average scores to remain the same under these conditions.

Under "D. The Nation"1.) This only shows an increase in crime, not who perpetrated the crime. As the Christian population today is 75% of the general population and also 75% of the prison population, but athests are 15% of the general population and only .02% of the prison population, it seem that not praying would make you less likely to commit crimes.

2.) Being that illegal drugs are mostly come from imports, we can safetly conclude that lack of prayer in school is not a cause for increased drug activity.

3.) The increase in abortion may also be attributed to an increase in pregnancies caused by lack of sex education and a professed dislike of protection by the Pope. If we wish a decrease in abortions, we should stop teaching religious policies of "abstinence only" and provide real information about protection and contraception.

In addition, many abortions are only done due to the mother being at risk to carry the child past where the fetus could be removed into ICU, let alone to carry the child to term. It has nothing to do with any theological point of view, but only on what is best to keep the mother alive.