A new survey revealed that most adults in the United States support to allow Christian prayer in public schools, shedding light on how Americans address the ongoing debate on religious expression in the educational field.
According to him Pew Research Center52% of adults support that public school teachers direct prayers in class that refer to Jesus, with 27% who say he firmly support it and 26% that supports him.
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“The debates are being revived throughout the United States over the place of religion – especially Christianity – in public schools,” says the report, quoting the recent ruling divided from the Supreme Court over the Catholic charter schools in Oklahomaamong other legal debates in the country.
The report, published on June 23, also arrives only two days after the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, will sign a law which requires that the public schools of that state exhibit the ten commandments in each classroom from the 2025-2026 school year.
The legislation It requires that “a durable sign or a framed copy of the ten commandments” in each classroom and secondary public schools in Texas.
PEW’s report is based on data from your Study of the religious panorama 2023-2024which surveyed 36,908 American adults between July 17, 2023 and March 4, 2024.
In general, 46% of adults in the US opposes Christian prayer in public schools, with 22% that firmly opposes. Although the report indicates that most adults support it, it also points out that the support varies significantly according to the State.
The majority of adults in 22 states in the south and the west of the country, including Mississippi, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Kentucky, South and North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio and Michigan, said they supported this practice.
On the other hand, in 12 states – California, Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, Colorado and Illinois – and in the district of Columbia, most adults oppose the Christian prayer in public schools.
In the remaining 16 states, the data is divided, with approximately half of adults in places such as Delaware, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Arizona and Maryland saying that they are in favor of allowing it.
“Once the survey error margins are considered, support for Christian sentences led by teachers in these states is not significantly different from the opposition,” the report said.
The study also found that “a slightly higher proportion of Americans claims to be in favor of allowing prayers led by teachers who refer to God (57%) than those who specifically mention Jesus (52%).”
Translated and adapted by ACI Press. Originally published in CNA.
Low Elhabbal
Madalaine Elhabbal is a CNA journalist based in the Washington DC office in EWTN. He has published articles in Catholicvote and has also worked as a foreign language assistant in France. She is a graduate of Benedictine College.