--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I'm not making light of prayers here, but…" description: "\"I'm not making light of prayers here, but of so-called school prayer, which bears as much resemblance to real spiritual experienceas that freeze-dried ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df5/anna-quindlen-467_astronaut_i-m-not-making-light-of-prayers-here-but_1591922.jpg" --- # I'm not making light of prayers here, but of so-called… ![“I'm not making light of prayers here, but of so-called school prayer, which bears as much resemblance to real spiritual experienceas that freeze-dried astronaut food bears to a nice standing rib roast. From what I remember of praying in school, it was almost an insult to God, a rote exercise in…” quote by Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df5/anna-quindlen-467_astronaut_i-m-not-making-light-of-prayers-here-but_1591922.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df5/anna-quindlen-467_astronaut_i-m-not-making-light-of-prayers-here-but_1591922.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df5/anna-quindlen-467_astronaut_i-m-not-making-light-of-prayers-here-but_1591922.jpg) > “I'm not making light of prayers here, but of so-called school prayer, which bears as much resemblance to real spiritual experienceas that freeze-dried astronaut food bears to a nice standing rib roast. From what I remember of praying in school, it was almost an insult to God, a rote exercise in moving your mouth while daydreaming or checking out the cutest boy in the seventh grade that was a far, far cry from soul-searching.” [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. School prayer is reduced to a hollow ritual, lacking genuine spiritual depth and often feeling like a performative act. **In simple terms:** School prayer feels empty and insincere. Key Takeaway Seek authentic spiritual expression. Themes religion ritual authenticity Mood skeptical reflective Type critical observational When to use this quote - education - religious ceremonies - personal reflection - community gatherings Key Concepts spirituality performative practice institutional critique Questions to Reflect On - How can institutions foster genuine spiritual moments? - What alternatives exist for meaningful prayer? A Different Perspective It may overlook sincere personal faith within institutional settings. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Astronaut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/astronaut/) [Bears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bears/) [Boys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boys/) [Checking out](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/checking-out/) [Cry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cry/) [Cutest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cutest/) [Daydreaming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/daydreaming/) [Exercise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exercise/) [Freedom of speech](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom-of-speech/) [Freeze](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freeze/) [Grades](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grades/) [Insult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/insult/) [Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light/) [Mouths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mouths/) [Moving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moving/) [Nice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nice/) [Prayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prayer/) [Praying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/praying/) [Praying School](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/praying-school-3788941/) [Real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Remember](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remember/) [Remember Praying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remember-praying-1579513/) [Resemblance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/resemblance/) [Ribs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ribs/) [School](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/school/) [School Prayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/school-prayer-947576/) [Seventh grade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seventh-grade/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Soul searching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul-searching/) [Spiritual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spiritual/) [Spiritual experience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spiritual-experience/) [Standing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/standing/) ## Related quotes > [I don't believe in school prayer. I think it's total nonsense...who is the teacher there that is going to have them pray? And is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-m-schulz/i-don-t-believe-in-school-prayer-i-think-it-s-total-nonsense-who-is/) [Charles M. Schulz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-m-schulz/) > [I don't ever remember not praying. Bedtime prayers, the rosary, praying for friends, relatives, for the sick and for those who had died. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-henderson/i-don-t-ever-remember-not-praying-bedtime-prayers-the-rosary-praying/) [Florence Henderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-henderson/) > [We pray Thee, O Christ, to keep us under the spell of immortality. My we never again think and act as if Thou were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-marshall/we-pray-thee-o-christ-to-keep-us-under-the-spell-of-immortality-my-we/) [Peter Marshall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-marshall/) > [I remember praying for peace all the time as a kid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/queen-latifah/i-remember-praying-for-peace-all-the-time-as-a-kid/) [Queen Latifah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/queen-latifah/) > [When you pray for others, God listens to you and blesses them, so when you are safe and happy, remember that someone is praying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ally-mbululo/when-you-pray-for-others-god-listens-to-you-and-blesses-them-so-when/) [Ally Mbululo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ally-mbululo/) > [When you pray, remember that you are not praying to a distant God, but to the God that dwells within you. Don't just speak…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-l-taylor/when-you-pray-remember-that-you-are-not-praying-to-a-distant-god-but/) [Susan L. Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-l-taylor/) > [When we pray for others, God listens to you and blessed them. So when you are safe and happy, remember that someone is praying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mbbc-carcar/when-we-pray-for-others-god-listens-to-you-and-blessed-them-so-when/) [MBBC - Carcar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mbbc-carcar/) > [Reagan thought that school prayer was important because it was crucial to begin each day reminding students that their inalienable rights came to them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-kengor/reagan-thought-that-school-prayer-was-important-because-it-was/) [Paul Kengor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-kengor/) > [We seek a constitutional amendment to permit voluntary school prayer. God should never have been expelled from America's classrooms in the first place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/we-seek-a-constitutional-amendment-to-permit-voluntary-school-prayer/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [People for the American Way says it has yet to find anyone who has made a stronger case against the proposed school prayer Constitutional…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cal-thomas/people-for-the-american-way-says-it-has-yet-to-find-anyone-who-has/) [Cal Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cal-thomas/) > [The Rosary is a school of Prayer. The Rosary is a school of Faith.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-francis/the-rosary-is-a-school-of-prayer-the-rosary-is-a-school-of-faith/) [Pope Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-francis/) > [My life and the life of my family has been completely disrupted in absolutely every way by starting the school-prayer case. But it's been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madalyn-murray-o-hair/my-life-and-the-life-of-my-family-has-been-completely-disrupted-in/) [Madalyn Murray O'Hair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madalyn-murray-o-hair/) > [The Psalter is the great school of prayer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/the-psalter-is-the-great-school-of-prayer/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [As long as algebra is taught in school, there will be prayer in school.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cokie-roberts/as-long-as-algebra-is-taught-in-school-there-will-be-prayer-in-school/) [Cokie Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cokie-roberts/) > [We never graduate from the school of prayer..!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mariane-corbito/we-never-graduate-from-the-school-of-prayer/) [Mariane Corbito](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mariane-corbito/) ## More by Anna Quindlen > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Trying to be perfect may be inevitable for people who are smart and ambitious and interested in the world and its good opinion...What is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/trying-to-be-perfect-may-be-inevitable-for-people-who-are-smart-and/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Sometimes change came all at once, with a sound like a fire taking hold of dry wood and paper, with a roar that rose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/sometimes-change-came-all-at-once-with-a-sound-like-a-fire-taking/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Loss as muse. Loss as character. Loss as life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/loss-as-muse-loss-as-character-loss-as-life/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [knowledge of our own mortality is the greatest gift God ever gives us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/knowledge-of-our-own-mortality-is-the-greatest-gift-god-ever-gives-us/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [You teach your 16-year-old with your heart in your mouth to be a good driver and none of that makes any difference when some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/you-teach-your-16-year-old-with-your-heart-in-your-mouth-to-be-a-good/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Every reader, I suspect, has a book like this somewhere in his or her past, a book that seemed to hold within it, at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/every-reader-i-suspect-has-a-book-like-this-somewhere-in-his-or-her/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [“I’ve finally recognized my body for what it is: a personality-delivery system, designed expressly to carry my character from place to place, now and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-ve-finally-recognized-my-body-for-what-it-is-a-personality-delivery/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [A man who builds his own pedestal had better use strong cement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/a-man-who-builds-his-own-pedestal-had-better-use-strong-cement/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [“In England I am always madam; I arrived too late to ever be a miss. In New York I have only been madamed once,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/in-england-i-am-always-madam-i-arrived-too-late-to-ever-be-a-miss-in/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [“Yet there was always in me, even when I was very small, the sense that I ought to be somewhere else. And wander I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/yet-there-was-always-in-me-even-when-i-was-very-small-the-sense-that/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [I can't think of a single downside to motherhood now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-can-t-think-of-a-single-downside-to-motherhood-now/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It would take a helluva man to replace no man at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/it-would-take-a-helluva-man-to-replace-no-man-at-all/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Not writing at all leads to nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/not-writing-at-all-leads-to-nothing/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Reading has always been my home, my sustenance, my great invincible companion. "Book love," Trollope called it. 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