Is this wise to take away the name of God from our school teachings?

Just read the Establishment Clause and you can let me know what you think it means.

The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment refers to the first of several pronouncements in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, stating that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...." Together with the Free Exercise Clause, ("...or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" - ANY religion - not just christianity), these two clauses make up what are commonly known as the "religion clauses" of the First Amendment.

The establishment clause has generally been interpreted to prohibit 1) the establishment of a national religion by Congress, and/or 2) the preference of one religion over another or the support of a religious idea with no identifiable secular purpose. The first approach is called the "separationist" or "no aid" interpretation, while the second approach is called the "non-preferentialist" or "accommodationist" interpretation. In separationist interpretation, the clause prohibits Congress from aiding ANY religion in any way even if such aid is made without regard to denomination. The accommodationist interpretation prohibits Congress from preferring one religion over another, but does not prohibit the government's entry into religious domain to make accommodations in order to achieve the purposes of the Free Exercise Clause. In other words, the Government can intervene if one religion seeks to prevent people from following another religion.

Without actually stating it per se, it eloquently enshrines the separation of church and state AND enshrines the right of ALL Americans to follow ANY or NO religion without prejudice or interference from any other religion.

The clause itself was seen as a reaction against the Church of England, established as the official church of England and some of the colonies, during the colonial era.

OK?

Rico: The phrase "wall of separation between church and state" is from Thomas Jefferson's 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists clarifying the establishment clause. The 1st amendment was written by James Madison and based on the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom which was written by Jefferson and Madison. So the idea is anything EXCEPT misguided judicial interpretations. Who else would be better able to summarize what is meant by the establishment clause than its authors?

"Should we keep the name of God away from our school teachings or public monuments?

No! Doing that is defying God's authority and telling Him that we just don't need His protection."

I agree that the answer is "no", I just don't agree with the reason. I don't believe in a personal god. I simply don't understand why the "separation of church and state" means we have to eradicate even any mention of religion from public life.

And if we deny kids the opportunity to pray in school even if they wish to, then isn't this violating their basic rights?

As long as you don't force anyone to pray if they don't want to, or opt out of religion if they want to, or you let everyone who wants to pray pray to whatever god they want to pray to.

OR do you only mean that people should pray only to the christian god? That would be an abuse if you were muslim, parsee, wiccan, agnostic, atheistic, humanist etc. etc. etc.