Many public charter schools in the state of Hawaii are explicitly religious. For more than two decades, students at Hawaiian-focused schools have offered chants and prayers to the pantheon of gods who rule over skies, seas, and earth, including to the volcanic god, Pelehonuamea ("she who shapes the sacred land"), popularly known as Madam…

Xenophobic, racist, and linguistically hegemonic discourses undermine the common good in our pluralistic communities. This article focuses on how these discourses adversely affect one subset of the population in the United States -- those who are culturally and linguistically diverse -- and how schools can disrupt this. Specifically, it explores…

Anecdotal evidence implies that students use library spaces for spiritual practices at many colleges and universities. Using focus groups, the authors investigated students' prayer behaviors on four regional campuses of a large research university, asking questions about students' frequency of prayer, campus areas used for devotions, and students'…

What are the linguistic resources for teachers who pray in contemporary Catholic school classrooms? This article considers the intersections of prayer and language practice, and makes central two arguments. The first is that educational prayer--a particular type of teacher-led extemporaneous prayer in Catholic schools--is a linguistic phenomenon,…

Student and teacher wellbeing are now a prominent concern within education systems internationally. Meditation and mindfulness programs form part of the response to addressing this. Research and practice to date has focused on the benefits of such interventions for students "or" teachers, despite considerable evidence of connections…

Test anxiety is problem that affects college students. Explanatory mixed methods research was completed with the objective of understanding the interrelationship of prayer and test anxiety as well as the potential therapeutic effects of Christian prayer on test anxiety. It was hypothesized that Christian prayer would have significant effects on…

This was a qualitative case study focused on a display of understanding how reinstating prayer within public schools can offer an effect on students nationwide. A case study was utilized in this investigation, to explore and provide a clear understanding from the teachers' perceptions on how reinstating prayer can be incorporated into students'…

Religion in public schools has long been a controversial issue. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1962 that teachers and administrators cannot lead prayers in public schools, and a decision in 2000 barred school districts from sponsoring student-led prayers at football games. At the same time, the court has held that students retain a First…

Sport and religion have been linked in many societies and are still a part of many traditions today. In recent years, the topic of prayer in interscholastic sport has received public attention due to many high-profile court cases. "Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe" (2000) was the landmark case that prohibited school officials,…

This article provides an overview of the socio-political, cultural, and historical characteristics of the relationship between conservative Christians and the American system of public education; describes the influence of fundamentalist views on contemporary conservative Christians; and recounts the historical relationship between the Religious…

The aim of this qualitative study is to describe teachers' perceptions and roles in prayer education in TALI day schools in Israel, using in-depth oral Interviews, written questionnaires and written materials of the schools' network. Two educational ideologies were identified: Belonging to the Jewish collective and Personal-spiritual ideology.…

Much of the discussion regarding religion and schooling in the US has been limited to ideological clashes surrounding the role of the courts and, ostensibly, the much litigated issue of prayer in schools. This comes at the expense of an examination of deeper curricular issues rooted in language and school mechanisms borne of historical…

Theological education typically includes classroom worship, a practice of great pedagogical power and curricular import. As pedagogy, classroom worship does four things. It focuses teaching and learning on God, and fosters theological dispositions necessary for sustaining that attention. Second, it rightly positions the entire class in dialogical…

This book offers an examination of the related topics of school prayer and character education in the United States, advocating for their return to public schools. In 1962 and 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court made rulings that removed prayer and Bible reading from public schools. But in the aftermath of the rulings, the nation endured one of the worst…

Throughout most facets of American life, there has been a renewed interest in and expression of spirituality. Religiosity and spirituality have been at the center of recent international events (e.g., September 11th) and political discussions (e.g., continuing debates about school prayer and the role of religion in the political process). As a…