According to a new Gallup poll, a solid 61% of Americans support daily, spoken prayer in public schools, and fully three-quarters of Americans support prayer at graduation ceremonies. 77% say they favor after-hours school usage for religious activities.
For background, read Public Prayer: Vast Majority of Americans Want it as well as Most States Tell Supreme Court: We Pray in Jesus' Name
Also read the long list of states enacting laws to bring prayer back to schools in response to the myriad atheist lawsuits against Christians and prayer nationwide.
In addition, read U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of public prayer, and read the resulting resurgence in public prayer following the Supreme Court decision.
-- From "Poll: Public Broadly Supportive Of School Prayer" by Blake Neff, Daily Caller 9/25/14
. . . Those numbers have only dipped slightly since 1999, when 70 percent of adults supported school prayer, 83 percent supported religious components of graduations, and 78 percent wanted school facilities to be open to religious groups.
Unsurprisingly support varied based on respondents’ personal religious activities, though many of the non-religious favored allowing religious expression in school. For example, 89 percent of Protestant Christians supported allowing official prayers at graduation, but so did 44 percent of those with no religion and 35 percent of those with no religion supported daily classroom prayer.
Significant gaps existed not just between Christians and the non-religious, but also among different Christian groups, with Catholics much less likely to support religious expression in public schools. In fact, Catholics were less likely than the non-religious to support opening public school facilities to religious groups after school, with 66 percent backing such a policy compared to 69 percent of the non-religious.
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From "In U.S., Support for Daily Prayer in Schools Dips Slightly" by Rebecca Riffkin, Gallup 9/25/14
Republicans in the U.S. are significantly more religious than other Americans, so it follows that Republicans are considerably more likely to favor each proposal on religion in schools than are independents or, in particular, Democrats. A large majority of Republicans favor these proposals, with at least 80% supporting all three. Independents also support the various proposals on religion in schools, but to a lesser extent than Republicans do. A majority of Democrats do not support daily school prayers (45%), but a majority do support graduation prayers (65%) and using school facilities for student religious groups (76%).
The decline in Americans' overall support for daily prayer in school over time is driven, in part, by a dip in support among Democrats. In 2000, 67% of Democrats supported this idea. This dropped to 59% in 2001 and fell to 45% by 2014. Meanwhile, support among Republicans has stayed consistent, and independents' support increased slightly.
Religion continues to be important to many Americans. The vast majority of Americans identify with a religion, a majority of Americans say religion can solve today's problems, and three in four Americans see the Bible as the actual or inspired word of God.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
While schools ban prayer and even ban Christians, click headlines below to read the Christian response:
Thousands of Citizens vs. Atheists: Prayer at Florida Football
Tennessee Cheerleaders Defy Atheist-forced Prayer Ban
North Carolinians Pray at School, Defying Wisconsin Atheists
Georgia Citizens & School Team Up vs. Anti-Prayer Atheists
