America: To Pray or Not to Pray [Paperback]

Charles D. Barton (Author), Beverly Baker (Illustrator), Mike Ward (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1997

On June 25, 1962, the United States Supreme Court first struck down voluntary school prayer in the case Engle v. Vitale. In this book, you'll see statistical evidence showing what has happened to our country since the Supreme Court began this separation of religious principles from our educational system, government, and public affairs (nearly 40 charts are included). In addition, several action items are suggested for restoring what's been lost.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David is the recipient of several national and international awards, including the Daughters of the American Revolution Medal of Honor; the George Washington Honor Medal; two Angel Awards for excellence in media and educational medium, many Who's Who, and numerous other awards.

He is the author of numerous books on historical, legal, and educational issues. David is a national conference speaker and a frequent consultant to state and federal legislators.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: WallBuilder Press; 5th edition (January 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0925279420
• ISBN-13: 978-0925279422
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #865,047 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Barton is the founder of WallBuilders, an organization dedicated to presenting America's forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on our moral, religious, and constitutional heritage. David is author of numerous best-selling works and a national award-winning historian who brings a fresh perspective to history.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars If you're a statistics professor looking for classroom examples of absurdly terrible statistical analysis, look no further!, November 30, 2011

By 

Diego Simonson "Mobilizing Organization of Va... (Oslo, Norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: America: To Pray or Not to Pray (Paperback)

All I needed to finally stop reading this book was to get to the charts inside in which the author explains a wide variety of social phenomena, such as falling SAT scores, increasing STD's, increasing single mother households, etc. as apparently caused by the 1962 decision to remove prayer from school. It is clear anyone who claims this book uses data can not grasp the most basic of faulty assumptions - that is, causation vs. correlation. By the logic presented here, someone could just as easily conclude that the actual period where the most drastic changes started to occur was in the early 1970's, which was when the Religious Right started to slowly dominate politics in the United States. Being that the Religious Republican Right generally are not considered with poverty, finding this CORRELATION in the data comes as no surprise at all. To call this book pseudo-science would be an insult to the field of pseudo-science.

15 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To Pray or Not to Pray, December 3, 2001

By 

Jeremy Becker (Oakhurst, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: America: To Pray or Not to Pray (Paperback)

This is an excellent account of historical fact. The repercusions of our actions, or inaction, leaves a distaste in the pit of our stomach. The social reality of where our country was before the 9/11 attacks has been laid out in a way that only those who refuse to see reality can argue against Barton's research. The writer from Ohio who was embarrased to reveal his name is one such person. I hope that you will disregard his adolescent ranting and name-calling because this book is excellent!

17 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What has happened to America since prayer is out of school?, June 8, 2000

By 

Paul Halley (Bridgeton, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: America, To Pray Or Not To Pray?: A Statistical Look at What Happened When Religious Principles Were Separated From Public Affairs (Paperback)

This book shows in clear chart form what has happened to our society since prayer was taken out of public schools in 1962. 40 charts clearly show the degredation of morals, the increase in violence, the increase in disease, and the drop in performance on standardized tests since 1962. What is interesting is that almost all these indicators of civilized life were pretty much constant until 1962. If you are interested in helping to bring this country back to sanity, be sure to get this book to share with your friends and neighbors.