To Pray or Not to Pray Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or limit free speech… On December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights was ratified. The first of these ten amendments to the United States Constitution provides that Congress or any state or state institution is prohibited from passing any law respecting or prohibiting the practice of religion. Since then, the precise meaning of these words has been constantly the subject of debate. More recently, this debate has emerged regarding the institution of school prayer. Although there are some who argue that the First Amendment does not prohibit the establishment of public school prayer as an aspect of national law, their arguments are not sufficient to allow us to violate or alter the law established by the First Amendment. The text of the First Amendment is unequivocally clear and prohibits the enactment by Congress of any law relating to religion, of any kind. It should therefore be obvious that such a law might not pass. However, as in any debate, there are two sides, and before we can address the other side's point of view, we must be aware of the history behind this controversial issue. In 1843, just before the Civil War, there was a riot in the Philadelphia suburb of Kensington. This riot was prompted not by differing opinions on slavery, a hot topic at the time, but rather by a debate over the practice of religion in public schools. More specifically, there was recently a decision by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Board of Education to allow Catholic students to refrain from participating in Protestant Bible reading and prayer in Philadelphia... middle of paper... ds prayer in a time of need (God forbid)". p.196-8.Freedom From Religion Foundation. "The Case Against School Prayer (Keep the Church and State Forever Separate)". 3 pp. Online, February 27, 1996. dan@softdisk.com. Internet. Accessed: February 24, 1997. First Amendment News - Religion. "Nation awaits outcome of school prayer case". 2pp. Online, April 1996. Internet. Accessed: February 25, 1997. Helms, Senator Jesse A. “School Prayer: Pro.” pp.339-40.Lynn, Barry W. “School Prayer: Con.” pp.343-5 Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum, Sixth Edition. Editors, Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York, Addison Wesley Longman, 1997. Mummert, Melissa. "A Brief History of School Prayer." Channel One online. 3pp. Internet. Accessed: February 24, 1997. Weisman, Deborah. "ACLU Client – ​​Deborah Weisman". ACLU - In the courts. 2pp. Online. Internet. Access: February 24th, 1997.