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� not mean that a11 prayer was prohibited, only that the circumstances �d to be �oak�d at For <br />instance, a school could a11ow a member of the community to give a message about some <br />general topic. The person could end with a prayer, and this would not be a violation of the <br />Constitution because prayer was not the sole purpose of his message. A st�ttt, such as a <br />valedictorian could give an address and could thank God without it being a violation of the <br />Constitution. <br />However, groups such as the ACLU believe students should not be chosen or voted on to <br />deliver prayers at school events such as graduation. There was a case in Florida where the <br />ACLU fought that "prayer must not be state-sponsored or put to a majority student vote." They <br />thought this violated the Constitution. The ACLU thought this was similar to Santa Fe <br />Independent School District v. Doe. The Supreme Court said that the Santa Fe school district's <br />policy of permitting its students to lead prayer at football games violated the Establishment <br />Clause and the ACLU thought this to be the same thing in the Florida case. It turned out that the <br />case in Florida was not similar because the policy did not refer to prayer and the school district <br />does not review what the student would say in the address. The student's paper would be a <br />private speech and not state sponsored. In Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe it was <br />established that the policy referred to prayer and the school district could review and approve the <br />message. The school district also had a history of supporting a particular religious viewpoint. It <br />was, therefore, state sponsored religion. This is one example of how specific circumstances <br />need to be looked at to determine if prayer is constitutional. <br />The attacks on September 1 lth are causing more attention to prayer in schools. After the <br />attacks, it seemed to be more acceptable to pray, and people are re-examining the role of it in <br />schools. Right now many schools have what is called a"moment of silence." In South Carolina <br />there is now a proposal being introduced to change the words to a"moment of silent prayer" to <br />help remind people that they have the right to pray during the moment of silence. The three <br />legislators that are introducing the change want to show that it is constitutional and that people <br />have "freedom of religion, not freedom from religion." However, opponents say the proposal <br />