Comparing and Contrasting Views on Religion in Public Schools
Introduction
The argument of whether or not religious activities should be permitted in public schools has been a controversial and polarizing topic among many students, teachers, parents, and government officials. Some conservative people believe that schools should allow religious teachings in the classroom as well as prayer in school activities such as sporting events or major school ceremonies. They believe in encouraging freedom of religion in public schools and that students will benefit greatly from being exposed to faith and religion. Some liberal people, in contrast, do not believe it is necessary for students to be involved with anything relating to religion at school. …show more content…
The author uses a much more informal tone and uses more obviously biased language than the previous author. For example, when referring to the idea of teaching religion in schools, she says, “it made me cringe” (Gaylor para. 1). The author also attempts to appeal more to pathos and logos than ethos. She hopes to incite anger in the audience as they read this article and lead them to question if allowing religious teachings and prayer in school is the right thing to do. She makes several bold, thought-provoking statements like, “... half of adults outright embrace creationism and reject evolution. The rejection of reason, this religious revival we’re still in the midst of, is imperiling our international standing” (para. 1). She then proceeds to ask, “What does it mean for our future when half our population rejects fact and accepts fable?” (para. 1). These statements appeal to the audience’s emotions as well as logic because they begin to see the dangers of learning religion over science and imagine what effect that may have on the …show more content…
It is a completely formal publication written for the purpose of explaining the history of conflicts concerning religion in school and the rights that students, parents, and teachers have regarding the issue. The writer appeals to ethos and establishes credibility prior to the audience reading the article because the Pew Research Center is a well-known and trusted source. The writer also appeals to logos by including statistical information such as the quote, “According to an August 2006 survey by the Pew Research Center, more than two-thirds of Americans (69%) agree with the notion that ‘liberals have gone too far in trying to keep religion out of the schools and the government’” (Lupu et al para. 4). The article also contains many facts relating to Supreme Court rulings, such as “In Engel v.Vitale (1962), the Supreme Court held that the Establishment Clause prohibited the recitation of a school-sponsored prayer in public schools” (para. 9). Since this is an academic article, there is no appeal to pathos, or emotion, which is what many of the previous articles attempted to do. The lack of emotional, biased, and informal language makes it more successful in providing accurate, trustworthy
Introduction
The argument of whether or not religious activities should be permitted in public schools has been a controversial and polarizing topic among many students, teachers, parents, and government officials. Some conservative people believe that schools should allow religious teachings in the classroom as well as prayer in school activities such as sporting events or major school ceremonies. They believe in encouraging freedom of religion in public schools and that students will benefit greatly from being exposed to faith and religion. Some liberal people, in contrast, do not believe it is necessary for students to be involved with anything relating to religion at school. …show more content…
The author uses a much more informal tone and uses more obviously biased language than the previous author. For example, when referring to the idea of teaching religion in schools, she says, “it made me cringe” (Gaylor para. 1). The author also attempts to appeal more to pathos and logos than ethos. She hopes to incite anger in the audience as they read this article and lead them to question if allowing religious teachings and prayer in school is the right thing to do. She makes several bold, thought-provoking statements like, “... half of adults outright embrace creationism and reject evolution. The rejection of reason, this religious revival we’re still in the midst of, is imperiling our international standing” (para. 1). She then proceeds to ask, “What does it mean for our future when half our population rejects fact and accepts fable?” (para. 1). These statements appeal to the audience’s emotions as well as logic because they begin to see the dangers of learning religion over science and imagine what effect that may have on the …show more content…
It is a completely formal publication written for the purpose of explaining the history of conflicts concerning religion in school and the rights that students, parents, and teachers have regarding the issue. The writer appeals to ethos and establishes credibility prior to the audience reading the article because the Pew Research Center is a well-known and trusted source. The writer also appeals to logos by including statistical information such as the quote, “According to an August 2006 survey by the Pew Research Center, more than two-thirds of Americans (69%) agree with the notion that ‘liberals have gone too far in trying to keep religion out of the schools and the government’” (Lupu et al para. 4). The article also contains many facts relating to Supreme Court rulings, such as “In Engel v.Vitale (1962), the Supreme Court held that the Establishment Clause prohibited the recitation of a school-sponsored prayer in public schools” (para. 9). Since this is an academic article, there is no appeal to pathos, or emotion, which is what many of the previous articles attempted to do. The lack of emotional, biased, and informal language makes it more successful in providing accurate, trustworthy