document_title: Giza pyramid complex

question_text: when did construction on the great pyramid of giza begin

text: Giza pyramid complex

text: Pyramids and Sphinx

text: The Pyramids of Giza consist of the Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Cheops or Khufu and constructed c. 2560–2540 BC), the somewhat smaller Pyramid of Khafre (or Chephren) a few hundred meters to the south-west, and the relatively modest-sized Pyramid of Menkaure (or Mykerinos) a few hundred meters farther south-west. The Great Sphinx lies on the east side of the complex. Current consensus among Egyptologists is that the head of the Great Sphinx is that of Khafre. Along with these major monuments are a number of smaller satellite edifices, known as "queens" pyramids, causeways and valley pyramids.[3]

text: Khufu's pyramid complex

text: Khufu’s pyramid complex consists of a valley temple, now buried beneath the village of Nazlet el-Samman; basalt paving and nummulitic limestone walls have been found but the site has not been excavated.[4][5] The valley temple was connected to a causeway which was largely destroyed when the village was constructed. The causeway led to the Mortuary Temple of Khufu. From this temple the basalt pavement is the only thing that remains. The mortuary temple was connected to the king’s pyramid. The king’s pyramid has three smaller queen’s pyramids associated with it and five boat pits.[6]:11–19 The boat pits contained a ship, and the 2 pits on the south side of the pyramid still contained intact ships. One of these ships has been restored and is on display. Khufu's pyramid still has a limited collection of casing stones at its base. These casing stones were made of fine white limestone quarried from the nearby range.[3]

text: Khafre's pyramid complex

text: Khafre’s pyramid complex consists of a valley temple, the Sphinx temple, a causeway, a mortuary temple and the king’s pyramid. The valley temple yielded several statues of Khafre. Several were found in a well in the floor of the temple by Mariette in 1860. Others were found during successive excavations by Sieglin (1909–10), Junker, Reisner, and Hassan. Khafre’s complex contained five boat-pits and a subsidiary pyramid with a serdab.[6]:19–26 Khafre's pyramid appears larger than the adjacent Khufu Pyramid by virtue of its more elevated location, and the steeper angle of inclination of its construction—it is, in fact, smaller in both height and volume. Khafre's pyramid retains a prominent display of casing stones at its apex.[3]

text: Menkaure's pyramid complex

text: Menkaure’s pyramid complex consists of a valley temple, a causeway, a mortuary temple, and the king’s pyramid. The valley temple once contained several statues of Menkaure. During the 5th dynasty, a smaller ante-temple was added on to the valley temple. The mortuary temple also yielded several statues of Menkaure. The king’s pyramid has three subsidiary or queen’s pyramids.[6]:26–35 Of the four major monuments, only Menkaure's pyramid is seen today without any of its original polished limestone casing.[3]

text: Sphinx

text: The Sphinx dates from the reign of king Khafre.[7] During the New Kingdom, Amenhotep II dedicated a new temple to Hauron-Haremakhet and this structure was added onto by later rulers.[6]:39–40

text: Tomb of Queen Khentkaus I

text: Khentkaus I was buried in Giza. Her tomb is known as LG 100 and G 8400 and is located in the Central Field, near the valley temple of Menkaure. The pyramid complex of Queen Khentkaus includes: her pyramid, a boat pit, a valley temple and a pyramid town.[6]:288–289

text: Construction

text: Most construction theories are based on the idea that the pyramids were built by moving huge stones from a quarry and dragging and lifting them into place. The disagreements center on the method by which the stones were conveyed and placed and how possible the method was.

text: In building the pyramids, the architects might have developed their techniques over time. They would select a site on a relatively flat area of bedrock—not sand—which provided a stable foundation. After carefully surveying the site and laying down the first level of stones, they constructed the pyramids in horizontal levels, one on top of the other.

text: For the Great Pyramid of Giza, most of the stone for the interior seems to have been quarried immediately to the south of the construction site. The smooth exterior of the pyramid was made of a fine grade of white limestone that was quarried across the Nile. These exterior blocks had to be carefully cut, transported by river barge to Giza, and dragged up ramps to the construction site. Only a few exterior blocks remain in place at the bottom of the Great Pyramid. During the Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century), people may have taken the rest away for building projects in the city of Cairo.[3]

text: To ensure that the pyramid remained symmetrical, the exterior casing stones all had to be equal in height and width. Workers might have marked all the blocks to indicate the angle of the pyramid wall and trimmed the surfaces carefully so that the blocks fit together. During construction, the outer surface of the stone was smooth limestone; excess stone has eroded as time has passed.[3]

text: Purpose

text: The pyramids of Giza and others are thought to have been constructed to house the remains of the deceased Pharaohs who ruled over Ancient Egypt.[3] A portion of the Pharaoh's spirit called his ka was believed to remain with his corpse. Proper care of the remains was necessary in order for the "former Pharaoh to perform his new duties as king of the dead.". It's theorized the pyramid not only served as a tomb for the Pharaoh, but also as a storage pit for various items he would need in the afterlife. "The people of Ancient Egypt believed that death on Earth was the start of a journey to the next world. The embalmed body of the King was entombed underneath or within the pyramid to protect it and allow his transformation and ascension to the afterlife."[8]

text: Workers' village

text: The work of quarrying, moving, setting, and sculpting the huge amount of stone used to build the pyramids might have been accomplished by several thousand skilled workers, unskilled laborers and supporting workers. Bakers, carpenters, water carriers, and others were also needed for the project. Along with the methods utilized to construct the pyramids, there is also wide speculation regarding the exact number of workers needed for a building project of this magnitude. When Greek historian Herodotus visited Giza in 450 BC, he was told by Egyptian priests that "the Great Pyramid had taken 400,000 men 20 years to build, working in three-month shifts 100,000 men at a time." Evidence from the tombs indicates that a workforce of 10,000 laborers working in three-month shifts took around 30 years to build a pyramid.[3]

text: The Giza pyramid complex is surrounded by a large stone wall, outside which Mark Lehner and his team discovered a town where the pyramid workers were housed. The village is located to the southeast of the Khafre and Menkaure complexes. Among the discoveries at the workers' village are communal sleeping quarters, bakeries, breweries, and kitchens (with evidence showing that bread, beef, and fish were staples of the diet), a hospital and a cemetery (where some of the skeletons were found with signs of trauma associated with accidents on a building site).[9] The workers' town appears to date from the middle 4th dynasty (2520–2472 BC), after the accepted time of Khufu and completion of the Great Pyramid. According to Lehner and the AERA team;

text: Without carbon dating, using only pottery shards, seal impressions, and stratigraphy to date the site, the team further concludes;

text: Cemeteries

text: As the pyramids were constructed, the mastabas for lesser royals were constructed around them. Near the pyramid of Khufu, the main cemetery is G 7000 which lies in the East Field located to the east of the main pyramid and next to the Queen’s pyramids. These cemeteries around the pyramids were arranged along streets and avenues.[12] Cemetery G 7000 was one of the earliest and contained tombs of wives, sons and daughters of these 4th dynasty rulers. On the other side of the pyramid in the West Field, the royals sons Wepemnofret and Hemiunu were buried in Cemetery G 1200 and Cemetery G 4000 respectively. These cemeteries were further expanded during the 5th and 6th dynasty.[6]

text: West Field

text: The West Field is located to the west of Khufu’s pyramid. It is divided into smaller areas such as the cemeteries referred to as the Abu Bakr Excavations (1949–50, 1950–1,1952 and 1953), and several cemeteries named based on the mastaba numbers such as Cemetery G 1000, Cemetery G 1100, etc. The West Field contains Cemetery G1000 – Cemetery G1600, and Cemetery G 1900. Further cemeteries in this field are: Cemeteries G 2000, G 2200, G 2500, G 3000, G 4000, and G 6000. Three other cemeteries are named after their excavators: Junker Cemetery West, Junker Cemetery East and Steindorff Cemetery.[6]:100–122

text:
Cemeteries in the West Field at Giza[6]:47–179

Cemetery
Time Period
Excavation
Comments

Abu Bakr Excavations
the 5th and 6th dynasty
(1949–53)

Cemetery G 1000
the 5th and 6th dynasty
Reisner (1903–05)
Stone built mastabas

Cemetery G 1100
the 5th and 6th dynasty
Reisner (1903–05)
Brick built mastabas

Cemetery G 1200
Mainly 4th dynasty
Reisner (1903–05)
Some members of Khufu’s family are buried here; Wepemnefert (King’s Son), Kaem-ah (King’s Son), Nefertiabet (King’s Daughter)

Cemetery G 1300
the 5th and 6th dynasty
Reisner (1903–05)
Brick built mastabas

Cemetery G 1400
the 5th dynasty or later
Reisner (1903–05)
Two men who were prophets of Khufu

Cemetery G 1500

Reisner (1931?)
Only one mastaba (G 1601)

Cemetery G 1600
the 5th dynasty or later
Reisner (1931)
Two men who were prophets of Khufu

Cemetery G 1900

Reisner (1931)
Only one mastabas (G 1903)

Cemetery G 2000

the 5th and 6th dynasty
Reisner (1905–06)

Cemetery G 2100
the 4th and 5th dynasty and later
Reisner (1931)
G 2100 belongs to Merib, a King’s (grand-)Son and G2101 belongs to a 5th dynasty king’s daughter.

Cemetery G 2200
Late 4th or early 5th dynasty
Reisner ?
Mastaba G 2220

Cemetery G 2300
5th dynasty and 6th dynasty
Reisner (1911–13)
Includes mastabas of Vizier Senedjemib-Inti and his family.

Cemetery G 2400
5th dynasty and 6th dynasty
Reisner (1911–13)

Cemetery G 2500

Reisner

Cemetery G 3000
6th dynasty
Fisher and Eckley Case Jr (1915)

Cemetery G 4000
4th dynasty and later
Junker and Reisner (1931)
Includes tomb of the Vizier Hemiunu

Cemetery G 6000
5th dynasty
Reisner (1925–26)

Junker Cemetery (West)
Late Old Kingdom
Junker (1926–27)
Includes mastaba of the dwarf Seneb

Steindorff Cemetery
5th dynasty and 6th dynasty
Steindorff (1903–07)

Junker Cemetery (East)
Late Old Kingdom
Junker

text: East Field

text: The East Field is located to the east of Khufu’s pyramid and contains cemetery G 7000. This cemetery was a burial place for some of the family members of Khufu. The cemetery also includes mastabas from tenants and priests of the pyramids dated to the 5th dynasty and 6th dynasty.[6]:179–216

text:
Cemeteries G 7000 – Royalty[6]:179–208

Tomb number
Owner
Comments

G 7000 X
Queen Hetepheres I
Mother of Khufu

G 7010
Nefertkau I
Daughter of Sneferu, half-sister of Khufu

G 7060
Nefermaat I
Son of Nefertkau I and Vizier of Khafra

G 7070
Sneferukhaf
Son of Nefermaat II

G 7110–7120
Kawab and Hetepheres II
Kawab was the eldest son of Khufu

G 7130–7140
Khufukhaf I and Nefertkau II
King’s Son and Vizier and his wife

G 7210–7220
Djedefhor
King’s Son of Khufu and Meritites

G 7350
Hetepheres II
Wife of Kawab and later wife of Djedefre

G 7410–7420
Meresankh II and Horbaef
Meresankh was a king’s daughter and king’s wife

G 7430–7440
Minkhaf I
Son of Khufu and Vizier of Khafra

G 7510
Ankhhaf
Son of Sneferu and Vizier of Khafra

G 7530–7540
Meresankh III
Daughter of Kawab and Hetepheres II, wife of Khafra

G 7550
Duaenhor
Probably son of Kawab and thus a grandson of Khufu

G 7560
Akhethotep and Meritites II
Meritites is a daughter of Khufu

G 7660
Kaemsekhem
Son of Kawab, a grandson of Khufu, served as Director of the Palace

G 7760
Mindjedef
Son of Kawab, a grandson of Khufu, served as Treasurer

G 7810
Djaty
Son of Queen Meresankh II

text: Cemetery GIS

text: This cemetery dates from the time of Menkaure (Junker) or earlier (Reisner), and contains several stone-built mastabas dating from as late as the 6th dynasty. Tombs from the time of Menkaure include the mastabas of the royal chamberlain Khaemnefert, the King’s son Khufudjedef was master of the royal largesse, and an official named Niankhre.[6]:216–228

text: Central Field

text: The Central Field contains several burials of royal family members. The tombs range in date from the end of the 4th dynasty to the 5th dynasty or even later.[6]:230–293

text:
Central Field – Royalty[6]:230–293

Tomb number
Owner
Comments

G 8172 (LG 86)
Nebemakhet
Son of Khafre, served as Vizier

G 8158 (LG 87)
Nikaure
Son of Khafre and Persenet, served as Vizier

G 8156 (LG 88)
Persenet
Wife of Khafre

G 8154 (LG 89)
Sekhemkare
Son of Khafre and Hekenuhedjet

G 8140
Niuserre
Son of Khafre, Vizier in the 5th dynasty

G 8130
Niankhre
King’s Son, probably 5th dynasty

G 8080 (LG 92)
Iunmin
King’s Son, end of 4th dynasty

G 8260
Babaef
Son of Khafre, end of 4th dynasty

G 8466
Iunre
Son of Khafre, end of 4th dynasty

G 8464
Hemetre
Probably daughter of Khafre, end of 4th dynasty or 5th dynasty

G 8460
Ankhmare
King’s son and Vizier, end of 4th dynasty

G 8530
Rekhetre
King’s daughter (of Khafre) and Queen, end of 4th dynasty or 5th dynasty

G 8408
Bunefer
King’s daughter and Queen, end of 4th dynasty or 5th dynasty

G 8978
Khamerernebty I
King’s daughter and Queen, middle to end of 4th dynasty. Also known as the Galarza Tomb

text: Tombs dating from the Saite and later period were found near the causeway of Khafre and the Great Sphinx. These tombs include the tomb of a commander of the army named Ahmose and his mother Queen Nakhtubasterau, who was the wife of Pharaoh Amasis II.[6]:289–290

text: South Field

text: The South Field includes some mastabas dating from the 2nd dynasty and 3rd dynasty. One of these early dynastic tombs is referred to as the Covington tomb. Other tombs date from the late Old Kingdom (5th and 6th dynasty). The south section of the field contains several tombs dating from the Saite period and later.[6]:294–297

text: Tombs of the pyramid builders

text: In 1990, tombs belonging to the pyramid workers were discovered alongside the pyramids with an additional burial site found nearby in 2009. Although not mummified, they had been buried in mud-brick tombs with beer and bread to support them in the afterlife. The tombs' proximity to the pyramids and the manner of burial supports the theory that they were paid laborers who took great pride in their work and were not slaves, as was previously thought. The commonly held belief of slaves building the pyramids was likely to have been popularized by Hollywood films based on the original archaeological and anthropological opinion that they could not have been built without forced labor. Evidence from the tombs indicates that a workforce of 10,000 laborers working in three-month shifts took around 30 years to build a pyramid. Most of the workers appear to have come from poor families. Farms supplied the laborers with 21 cattle and 23 sheep daily. Specialists such as architects, masons, metalworkers and carpenters, were permanently employed by the king to fill positions that required the most skill.[13][14][15][16][17]

text: New Kingdom

text: During the New Kingdom, Giza was still an active site. A brick-built chapel was constructed near the Sphinx during the early 18th dynasty, probably by King Thutmose I. Amenhotep II built a temple dedicated to Hauron-Haremakhet near the Sphinx. Pharaoh Thutmose IV visited the pyramids and the Sphinx as a prince and in a dream was told that clearing the sand from the Sphinx would be rewarded with kingship. This event is recorded in the Dream stela. During the early years of his reign, Thutmose IV together with his wife Queen Nefertari had stelae erected at Giza. Pharaoh Tutankhamun had a structure built, which is now referred to as the king's resthouse. During the 19th dynasty, Seti I added to the temple of Hauron-Haremakhet, and his son Ramesses II erected a stela in the chapel before the Sphinx and usurped the resthouse of Tutankhamun.[6]:39–47

text: Late Period

text: During the 21st dynasty, the Temple of Isis Mistress-of-the-Pyramids was reconstructed. During the 26th dynasty, a stela made in this time mentions Khufu and his Queen Henutsen.[6]:18

text: Astronomy

text: The sides of all three of the Giza pyramids were astronomically oriented to the north-south and east-west within a small fraction of a degree. Among recent attempts[18][19][20] to explain such a clearly deliberate pattern are those of S. Haack, O. Neugebauer, K. Spence, D. Rawlins, K. Pickering, and J. Belmonte. The arrangement of the pyramids is a representation of the Orion constellation according to the disputed Orion Correlation Theory.


document_title: School prayer

question_text: when was organized prayer banned from public schools

root

text: School prayer

text: Countries that prohibit school-sponsored prayer[edit]

text: United States[edit]

text: In the United States, public schools are banned from conducting religious observances such as prayer. The legal basis for this prohibition is the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which requires that

tag: p

text: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...

text: The first part of the amendment ("Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion") is known as the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, while the second part ("or prohibiting the free exercise thereof") is known as the Free Exercise Clause.

text: Though each of these clauses originally applied only to the central US government, the Fourteenth Amendment extended the scope of the entire First Amendment to all levels of government, including the state level,[1] thus compelling states and their subject schools to adopt an equally detached approach to religion in schools.

text: School prayer prior to 1962[edit]

text: In the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, it was common practice for public schools to open with an oral prayer or Bible reading.[2][not in citation given] Catholics would sometimes object to the distinct Protestant observations performed in the local schools. For instance, in the Edgerton Bible Case (Weiss v. District Board (1890)), the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in favor of Catholics who objected to the use of the King James Bible in Wisconsin public schools. This ruling was based on the state constitution and only applied in Wisconsin.

text: A Turning Point: The "Regents' Prayer" and Engel v. Vitale[edit]

text: The media and popular culture often erroneously credit atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair with removing school prayer from US public schools, when the case against recitation of the Lord's Prayer in Baltimore schools was decided by the Supreme Court in 1963. A more significant case had reached the Supreme Court one year prior, suddenly changing the legal climate for school prayer in the US.[3]

text: In 1955, the New York Board of Regents developed a prayer recommended (but not required) for the school districts under its purview. The prayer was relatively short: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence on Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our country."[1][4] The board stated that the prayer would "combat juvenile delinquency and counter the spread of Communism."[4]

text: Seven years later, Steven I. Engel, a Jew, was upset to see his son’s hands clasped and his head bent in prayer. He told his son that this was “not the way we say prayers.” Engel, a founding member of the New York Civil Liberties Union, brought action along with Daniel Lichtenstein, Monroe Lerner, Lenore Lyons, and Lawrence Roth, all parents of children in the Long Island, New York public school system, against Union Free School District No. 9 for its adoption and subsequent prescription of the so-called "Regent's prayer", arguing that it constituted the state-sponsored establishment of religion in violation of citizens’ First Amendment rights via the Fourteenth Amendment.[5]

text: Use of the Regent's prayer was initially upheld in both New York State Court and in the New York Court of Appeals, prompting Engels to petition the US Supreme Court in the Engel v. Vitale case in 1962. With its 8–1 vote to make public recitation of the Regents' Prayer in public schools unlawful, the U.S. Supreme Court made its first-ever decision on prayer in public schools. It made its second in 1963—the Abington School District v. Schempp ruling, which made the corporate reading of the Bible and recitation of the Lord's Prayer unlawful in public schools.[3]

text: 1963 and after[edit]

text: In these two landmark decisions, Engel v. Vitale (1962) and Abington School District v. Schempp (1963), the Supreme Court established what is now the current prohibition on state-sponsored prayer in US schools. While the Engel decision held that the promulgation of an official state-school prayer stood in violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause (thus overruling the New York Courts’ decisions), Abington held that Bible readings and other public school-sponsored religious activities were prohibited.[6] Madalyn Murray's lawsuit, Murray v. Curlett, contributed to the removal of compulsory Bible reading from the public schools of the United States, and has had lasting and significant effects.

text: Until the lawsuit, it was commonplace for students to participate in many types of religious activities while at school, including religious instruction itself. Nonreligious students were compelled to participate in such activities and were not usually given any opportunity to opt out. The Murray suit was combined with an earlier case, so the Court might have acted without Murray's intervention. With the success of the lawsuit, the intent of the Constitution with regard to the relationship between church and state again came under critical scrutiny and has remained there to this day. While students do continue to pray in public schools, even in organized groups such as "See You at the Pole", the lawsuit disallowed schools from including prayer as a compulsory activity required of every student. The success of O'Hair's lawsuit led to subsequent lawsuits by Mormon and Catholic families in Texas in 2000 to limit compulsory prayer at school-sponsored football games.

text: Following these two cases came the Court's decision in Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), a ruling that established the Lemon test for religious activities within schools. The Lemon test states that, in order to be constitutional under the Establishment Clause, any practice sponsored within state-run schools (or other public state-sponsored activities) must adhere to the following three criteria:[7]

text:
Have a secular purpose;
Must neither advance nor inhibit religion; and
Must not result in an excessive entanglement between government and religion.

tag: ol

text: Controversy[edit]

text: Reactions to Engel and Abington were widely negative, and many school districts and states have attempted to reestablish school-sponsored prayer in different forms since 1962.[8] Since the 1990s, controversy in the courts has tended to revolve around prayer at school-sponsored extracurricular activities. Examples can be seen in the cases of Lee v. Weisman (1992) and Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe (2000), where public prayers at graduation ceremonies and those conducted via public address system prior to high school games (at state school facilities before a school-gathered audience) were, respectively, ruled unconstitutional.

text: Despite their attempts to present a clear stance on school-sponsored religious activity, Engel, Abington, and the cases for which these serve as precedent are cited by some proponents of school prayer as evidence of a contradiction between the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses.[9] While the Establishment Clause proscribes the state sponsorship of religion, the Free Exercise Clause forbids state interference in individual religious exercise. Where a state entity moves to accommodate the right to individual religious expression under the latter clause, opponents of that "expression" may cite such accommodation as state "promotion" of one religious activity over another.[10] Regarding the Free Exercise Clause, the courts have consistently stated that students' setting forth of religious views through prayer cannot be forbidden unless such activity can be shown to cause disruption in the school, yet it remains beyond the scope of the state to require such practice.[11] Thus, anyone is allowed to pray in schools in the United States, as long as it is not officially sponsored by the school and it does not disrupt others from doing their work.

text: The United States Supreme Court: A Political and Legal Analysis discussed the results of a 1991 survey, stating that: "The Court's school prayer decisions were, and still are, deeply unpopular with the public, many politicians and most religions organizations. 95 percent of the population believe in God and some 60 percent belong to a religious organization. In a 1991 opinion poll, 78 percent of Americans support the reintroduction of school prayer."[12] As a result of public support for school prayer in the United States, The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States reports, "the public's support for school prayer was translated by various state legislatures into statutes aiding religious schools and practices."[13] Analysis of multiple polls since the 1970s by sociologist Philip Schwadel showed support for school prayer dipped slightly but remains popular with the majority of Americans, with a recent 2011 poll showing 65 percent support.[14]

text: Canada[edit]

text: British Columbia[edit]

text: Prior to 1944, in British Columbia, the Public Schools Act (1872) permitted the use of the Lord’s Prayer in opening or closing school. In 1944, the government of British Columbia amended the Public Schools Act to provide for compulsory Bible reading at the opening of the school day, to be followed by a compulsory recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. This amendment appeared as section 167 of the Public Schools Act, and read as follows:[15]

text: 167. All public schools shall be opened by the reading, without explanation or comment, of a passage of Scripture to be selected from readings prescribed or approved by the Council of Public Instruction. The reading of the passage of Scripture shall be followed by the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, but otherwise the schools shall be conducted on strictly secular and non-sectarian principles. The highest morality shall be inculcated, but no religious dogma or creed shall be taught. 1948, c.42, s.167

text: The compulsory nature of the Bible reading and prayer recitation was slightly modified by regulations drawn up by the Council of Public Instruction. These regulations provided that either a teacher or student who has conscientious ground for objecting to the religious observances may be excused from them. The procedure to be followed in such cases was outlined in the regulations, which follow in full:

text: Division (15)—Scripture Readings (Section 167)

text: 15.01 Where a teacher sends a written notice to the Board of School Trustees or official trustee by whom he is employed that he has conscientious objections to conducting the. ceremony of reading prescribed selections from the Bible and reciting the Lord’s Prayer (as provided by Section 167 of the Public Schools Act), he shall be excused from such duty, and in such case it shall be the duty of the Board of School Trustees or official trustee concerned to arrange with the Principal to have the ceremony conducted by some other teacher in the school, or by a school trustee, or, where neither of these alternatives is possible, by one of the senior pupils of the school or by some other suitable person other than an ordained member of a religious sect or denomination.

text: 15.02 Where the parent or guardian of any pupil attending a public school sends a written notice to the teacher of the pupil stating that for conscientious reasons he does not wish the pupil to attend the ceremony of reading prescribed selections from the Bible and reciting the Lord’s Prayer at the opening of school, the teacher shall excuse the pupil from attendance at such ceremony and at his discretion may assign the pupil some other useful employment at school during that period, but the pupil so excused shall not be deprived of any other benefits of the school by reason of his non-attendance at the ceremony.

text: In 1982, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms received royal assent. Section 2 of the charter guaranteeing freedom of conscience and freedom of religion trumped Section 167 of the Public Schools Act (1872). Sixteen years later in 1996, based on precedent that would be established in Ontario (1989), required recitation of the Lord’s Prayer as outlined in the Public Schools Act would be held to violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

text: Ontario[edit]

text: The challenges to Christian opening and closing exercises occurred mainly in Ontario with the crucial case being fought in The Ontario Court of Appeal in 1988.[16]

text: Zylberberg v. Sudbury Board of Education (Director) The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the use of the Lord’s Prayer in opening exercises in public schools offended the Charter s. 2(a). 1988. (1988), 65 O.R. (2d) 641, 29 O.A.C. 23 (C.A.). Education regulations did not require the use of the Lord's Prayer and there was an exemption provision. The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the regulation infringed religious freedom because schools could use only the Lord's Prayer rather than a more inclusive approach. It was argued that the exemption provision effectively stigmatized children and coerced them into a religious observance which was offensive to them.

text: The Ontario Court of Appeal was persuaded by the argument that the need to seek exemption from Christian exercises is itself a form of religious discrimination. The judges described as insensitive the position of the respondents that it was beneficial for the minority children to confront the fact of their difference from the majority.

text: Russow v. British Columbia[edit]

text: In 1989, Joan Russow challenged, in the British Columbia Supreme Court, the Public Schools Act’s requirement that in British Columbia all public schools were to be opened with the Lord’s Prayer and a Bible reading. The argument was similar to the Zylberberg case and the result was the same: The offending words in the Public Schools Act were removed as being inconsistent with freedom of conscience and religion guarantees in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Further following the Zylberberg case to strike down use of the Lord’s Prayer in schools,[17] the British Columbia Supreme Court incorporated the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision in Zylberberg in its entirety.

text: From 1871 to 1989, observance of school prayer had declined.

text: With the unfavorable court decision, the requirement for Christian morning exercises was replaced with the following clauses found in the School Act (1996) in British Columbia.[18]

text: Conduct:

text: 76 (1) All schools and Provincial schools must be conducted on strictly secular and nonsectarian principles.

text: (2) The highest morality must be inculcated, but no religious dogma or creed is to be – taught in a school or Provincial school.

text: France[edit]

text: As a declared 'laïque' (roughly 'religiously neutral', secular) state, France has no school prayers. Instead, public servants are advised to keep their religious faith private, and may be censured if they display it too openly. The French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools goes beyond restricting prayer in schools and bans the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols by pupils in public primary and secondary schools.

text: Turkey[edit]

text: The predominantly Muslim country of Turkey is in the public sphere a strongly secular nation. In this regard, it is much like France, on whose system of laïcism its founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk modelled the rules on religion when he reformed his country in the early 20th century. School prayer is therefore unknown, and suspected religious motivations can cause serious difficulties for public servants. Despite its primarily secular stance, however, courses of religion and morals (which are dominantly Islamic) are compulsory to all students during the last years of elementary and throughout high school. In these instances, various Islamic prayers and verses are both taught and tested for.

text: Countries that permit school-sponsored prayer[edit]

text: United Kingdom[edit]

text: This section needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (March 2018)

tag: table

text: In England and Wales, the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 states that all pupils in state schools must take part in a daily act of collective worship, unless their parents request that they be excused from attending.[19] The majority of these acts of collective worship are required to be "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character", with two exceptions:

text:
Religious schools, which should provide worship appropriate to the school's religion (although most religious schools in the UK are Christian.)
Schools where the local education authority's Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education has determined that Christian worship would not be appropriate for part or all of the school.

tag: ul

text: Despite this statutory requirement for schools to hold a daily act of collective worship, most do not. Ofsted's 2002-03 annual report, for example, stated that 80% of secondary schools were not providing daily worship for all pupils.[20]

text: Ongoing debate[edit]

text: Arguments for and against school prayer[edit]

text: The issue of school prayer remains contentious even where courts as diverse as those in Canada, the United States, Russia, and Poland attempt to strike a balance between religious and secular activity in state-sponsored arenas.[11] Some arguments have held that religion in schools is both an effective sociomoral tool[21][22] as well as a valuable means to psychological stability.[23] On the opposing side, others have argued that prayer has no place in a classroom where impressionable students are continually subject to influence by the majority.[16] The latter kind of claim holds that, to the extent that a public school itself promotes the majority religion, the state is guilty of coercive interference in the lives of the individual.[24]

text: In recent years, programs derived from yoga, a Hindu religious practice, have been introduced into public schools in the U.S. Advocates for the programs say they help children to relax and concentrate, but critics counter that the programs violate the separation of church and state.[25][26]

text: "Moment of silence"[edit]

text: Despite ongoing debate, there are some instances where religious freedom and secular stability have been temporarily balanced. In the United States, some administrations have introduced a "moment of silence" or "moment of reflection" in which a student may, if he or she wishes to, offer a silent prayer. The US Supreme Court decision in Wallace v. Jaffree (1984) held that a moment of silence in schools for the purpose of individual prayer or meditation constituted a valid application of the Free Exercise Clause, while a moment of silence for the clear intended purpose of a state-approved devotional activity constituted a violation of the Establishment Clause.[8] In this same case, the issue of school prayer was further complicated by a distinction made between a public assembly attended by participants of their own free will, and a public event where attendance is legally required. A voluntarily attended Congress may open sessions with a prayer, but schools full of public pupils may not. Here the US Supreme Court has interpreted the issue as revolving around the degree of a government’s ability to indoctrinate its citizens.[8] If it appears that participants at a state-sponsored event are more likely to influence the State itself, courts may treat prayer as "legislative prayer". If, on the other hand, the State is more likely to influence participants at its events, courts may treat prayer as "state-sponsored" prayer and thereby rule it unconstitutional.[27]


document_title: Jael

question_text: who was killed with a tent peg in the bible

text: Jael

text: Family[edit]

text: Jael was the wife of Heber the Kenite.[1] The Kenites were a nomadic tribe, some of whom lived in close proximity to the Israelites. The Bible records a number of cases of intermarriage; the father-in-law of Moses was apparently a Kenite, but it is not clear if this was Jethro. The Kenites may have been a part of the Midianite group.

text: Jael in the Book of Judges[edit]

text: Deborah, a prophetess and judge, advises Barak to mobilize the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulon on Mount Tabor to do battle against King Jabin of Canaan. Barak demurred, saying he would go, provided she would also. Deborah agreed but prophesied that the honour of defeating Jabin's army would then go to a woman. Jabin's army was led by Sisera (Judg. 4:2). The armies met on the plain of Esdraelon, where Sisera's iron-bound chariots became hampered by the mud caused by a downpour during the night that caused the Wadi Kishon to overflow its banks. The Canaanites were defeated and Sisera fled the scene.[1]

text: Sisera arrived on foot at the tent of Heber the Kenite on the plain of Zaanaim. Heber's wife Jael (whose tent would have been separate from Heber's) [2] welcomed Sisera into her tent and covered him with a blanket. As he was thirsty, she gave him a jug of milk. Exhausted, Sisera lay down and soon fell asleep. While he was sleeping, Jael took a mallet and drove a tent peg into his temple, killing him instantly.[1] The "Song of Deborah" (Judg. 5:24-26) recounts:

text: Scholars [3] have long recognized that the Song of Deborah, on the basis of linguistic evidence (archaic biblical Hebrew), is one of the oldest parts of the Bible, dating back to the 12th century BC.[4]

text: Extra-biblical references[edit]

text: Pseudo-Philo refers to Jael in the book, Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum:

text: Now Jael took a stake in her left hand and approached him, saying, "If God will work this sign with me, I know that Sisera will fall into my hands. Behold I will throw him down on the ground from the bed on which he sleeps; and if he does not feel it, I know that he has been handed over." And Jael took Sisera and pushed him onto the ground from the bed. But he did not feel it, because he was very groggy.

text: And Jael said, "Strengthen in me today, Lord, my arm on account of you and your people and those who hope in you." And Jael took the stake and put it on his temple and struck it with a hammer.

text: And while he was dying, Sisera said to Jael, "Behold pain has taken hold of me, Jael, and I die like a woman."

text: And Jael said to him, "Go, boast before your father in hell and tell him that you have fallen into the hands of a woman."[5]

text: Commentary[edit]

text: Judges 4:17 states that there was peace between the Canaanites and Heber's clan. They were familiar to the Israelites through the connection of Jethro to Moses, and their skill as metalworkers was welcomed wherever they camped. Both sides in the conflict would have considered the Kenites a neutral party. C.E. Schenk notes that Sisera was Jael's guest, "was in the sanctuary of her home, and protected by the laws of hospitality."[6] According to Herbert Lockyer she may have acted out of practical necessity. Sisera was in flight and Barak in pursuit. It would not have been wise to allow Barak to find Sisera in her tent. She also knew that Sisera would be killed if captured, therefore she would kill him and thus cement a friendship with the victor.[7] Biblical commentaries have viewed Jael as either a heroine or someone much less so. Newsom and Ringe consider her a survivor caught up in her husband's politics.[8]

text: Christian moral theorists during the Renaissance extensively referred to Jael as example of tyrannicide.[citation needed]

text: Artistic depictions of Jael[edit]

text: Medieval images of Jael, mostly in illuminated manuscripts, depicted her as both a defender of Israel and a prefiguration of the Virgin Mary.[9] This can be seen in the Stavelot Bible, the Speculus Darmstadt, as well as several other texts. When not shown in the act of killing Sisera, she carries her hammer and sometimes the spike, making her easy to identify.

text: In the Renaissance the subject is one of the most commonly shown in the Power of Women topos, with other biblical women who triumphed over men, such as Judith or Delilah.[10] Here she was used to show the risk for men in following women, in groupings including positive figures and scenes such as Judith beheading Holofernes, but mostly ones with female villains such as Phyllis riding Aristotle, Samson and Delilah, Salome and her mother Herodias an the Idolatry of Solomon. More positively, Jael was included in sets of the female Nine Worthies, such as the prints by Hans Burgkmair.[11] Ladies sometimes chose to have their portraits painted as Jael, a transformation achieved by holding a hammer and spike.[12]

text: In the Baroque period, Jael continued to be a sexual figure in art. Works by Gregorio Lazzarini and Artemisia Gentileschi are two examples of an attractive Jael, shown in the act of killing her foe.

text: Jael is portrayed in the French silent film Jael and Sisera (1911), directed by Henri Andréani.[13]

text: In popular culture[edit]

text:
Anthony Trollope's novel The Last Chronicle of Barset contains a sub-plot in which the painter Conway Dalrymple paints the heiress Clara Van Siever as Jael driving a "nail" through the head of Sisera.
In P.G. Wodehouse's novel The Code of the Woosters, the narrator Bertie Wooster mentions Jael in a description of hangover symptoms that he is experiencing: "Indeed, just before Jeeves came in, I had been dreaming that some bounder was driving spikes through my head—not just ordinary spikes, as used by Jael the wife of Heber, but red-hot ones."

Bertie also mentions "Jael, wife of Heber" in Right Ho, Jeeves.
Wodehouse also mentions "Jael the wife of Heber" in Galahad at Blandings. When Tipton Plimsoll shakes his head, the narrator remarks, "There are times when shaking the head creates the illusion one has met Jael the wife of Heber, incurred her displeasure and started her going into her celebrated routine."
Wodehouse also mentions "Jael, the wife of Heber" in Cocktail Time, when Frederick Twistleton describes the face of a member of the Drones Club with "...a look of ecstasy and exaltation such as Jael, the wife of Heber, must have worn when about to hammer the Brazil nut into the head of Sisera...".
“Jael the wife of Heber” also appears in The Small Bachelor. When George Finch meets his future mother-in-law for the first time she gives him a disapproving look. “It was the kind of look which Sisera might have surprised in the eye of Jael the wife of Heber, had he chanced to catch it immediately before she began operations with the spike.”

Booker Prize winner A.S. Byatt's 1998 collection of short fiction, Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice, contains a short story entitled "Jael", which is intricately related to the biblical story of Jael.
In a half-hour radio drama, Butter in a Lordly Dish (1948), Agatha Christie has her protagonist drug a lawyer's coffee; after revealing her true identity, she hammers a nail into his head.
The central image of Aritha van Herk's novel The Tent Peg refers to the story of Jael and Sisera.
A chapter in Martin Sugarman's book Fighting Back: British Jewry's Military Contribution in the Second World War (Valentine Mitchell, 2010) is headed "Daughters of Yael: Two Jewish Heroines of the SOE". The author uses the name to illustrate the courage of ATS Denise Bloch and WAAF Muriel Byck of the Special Operation Executive, who were killed in action operating behind German lines in France.
A section of Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's book Good Wives is entitled "Jael".
The Christian metalcore band Oh, Sleeper has a song entitled "Hush Yael" on their album Children of Fire.

text: As a name[edit]

text: "Yael" (יעל) is at present one of the most common female first names in contemporary Israel.[citation needed]