𝐈𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞?

Let’s break this down. The average child in the US spends 6.5 hours per day in school, which adds up to 32.5 hours per week. The rest of their time is under the direct influence of their parents. That means schools have control over just 19.3% of the week.

Now, if a child sleeps 8 hours per night, that’s 56 hours per week, or 33.3% of their time. That leaves parents with direct control over their child for 46.4% of the week, which amounts to roughly 78 waking hours outside of school.

So, if a parent is truly committed to their child praying, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 80 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝑩𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆. Yet, that’s not enough for some—they want to impose religious practice during the measly 32.5 hours of school time as well. And not only that, but they don’t even want to be the ones responsible for telling their kids to pray—they want the school to do it for them.

Let’s be honest: most Christians don’t pray regularly or read the Bible. When they say, “I’ll pray for you,” they’re usually just saying words, not actually following through. It’s not about fostering personal devotion—it’s about ensuring their religion dominates the public sphere, even when they themselves don’t practice it faithfully. Their attachment to Christianity often has less to do with spiritual commitment and more in common with being a fan of a sports team—loyal to the identity, but not necessarily engaged in the practice.

When you hear someone going on about how we need God in public schools, just think of them as a Packers fan wearing a big cheese-wedge hat, and you will be much closer to their true motivations.