Introduction
All major religions in the world today promote the same message, which is respect for humanity and that there is one creator of the universe, which is God Almighty. The means of preaching this lesson and the traditional culture of any society plays a very important role in propagating such a message. The manner in which these messages are propagated affects societal stability and peace. Therefore it is understandable why religion has always been a source of conflict and division among various nations and communities. These conflicts may be among communities of one religion or between two separate religions. Contemporarily, the same thing occurs today.

Even in this world of advancement and modern civilization, religious conflict has reached to a dangerous level, and now educational institutes have become major targets. This is what results in future ethnic and religious groups that will be a threat to peace and harmony of not only the state internally but to the world at large.

Current Religious Issues
Presently, there are many religious as well as ethnic issues at school, which disturb the peaceful atmosphere of educational institutions. These conflicts vary between private and public schools. Furthermore, the level of tolerance also varies in urban high schools and other schools. In discussing this issue, it is worth looking into violence caused as a result religious conflict in schools.

It appears that the levels of tolerance in high schools at suburban areas and students of metropolitan high schools are not same. These religious issues arise to the extent of violence and disturb the peaceful education environment; this causes disruption of psychological development of students and also develops animosity among various ethnic groups. For instance, conflict among two ethnic immigrant groups i.e. Puerto Ricans and the Bosnians hatred was initiated from a personal level of economic competition and resulted into two major ethnic groups (Smith, 2003). This particularly refers top one conflict triggering another, which ordinarily would not have taken place. So, in this way the harmonized and civilized atmosphere an educational institute is threatened.

Another religious issue that was raised due to ethnicity in regards to school and education is the state-funded school Voucher program, which develops discrimination among students of various ethnic and religious backgrounds. Such incidents occurred in private schools in Cleveland, Mississippi and many other schools in different areas of the country. In order to quell such problems at school, the church was used as a tool since it was closely associated wit the school. In order to avoid such issues that could lead to any future cause of violence in educational institution, various district schools opted to post the Ten Commandments. Since the senate has not approved the Ten Commandments to be posted at schools and other public places, some scholars and analysts believe that the various political groups in the country are encouraging ethnic and religious conflicts. However, in the past few years the intensity of practicing prayers in public schools especially in the various graduation ceremonies has been of primary concern to the church-state argument (Daniel, Washington).

The Ten Commandments are basically related to the idea of remembering God; reading the Ten Commandments will create religious harmony in schools and will help to avoid violence at schools. Religious scholars strongly support the posting of the Ten Commandments at schools to make the students read every day (Samuel, 2000). Having asserted the tremendous power behind the use of the Ten Commandments quelling violence, it needs to be asserted that the intensity and kinds of issues and conflicts were not the same in the past as they are right now.
Currently, the percentage of students from various ethnic and religious communities has increased. Students from all over the world come to western countries to seek education. All possess skills and creativity but belong to separate ethnic and religious backgrounds. So, without looking to hard, sociologically speaking, one can assert that there is immense room for ethnic conflicts where the issue of admission, scholarships and other facilities are concerned.

Furthermore, in the last 40 years religious and ethnic issues starting at school have risen to the level of serious conflict, damaging the internal security of the state. At the same time, it must be asserted that too much interference of the Church in various administrative affairs of schools has developed religious misunderstanding among the various communities in the state. The level of teaching of various religious subjects has been a major subject of the schools. Yet all the religious schools follow the same policy but also offer a variety of subjects to the students to choose these subjects as optional subjects. However, at the same time to serve the religious cause and maintain harmony in the school, the vouchers fund many private schools. Basically it is practiced to avoid the state-sanctioned prayers within these schools (Lugg Jan. 2004).

How to handle religious and ethnic issues at school?
The increasing intensity of religious issues in public schools is an alarming situation as they are basically politically charged; this is a threat to healthy educational development of the state. However, the matter has been an issue of concern since a long time, and various organizations and institutions are working to cope with every challenge. For instance, the U.S. Department of education has developed certain rules to guide the official and administrative departments of various schools. These guidelines are also a great help to parents as well as teachers that provide religious freedom depending upon the constitutional requirements.
Additionally, these guidelines do not limit private religious practices at school and at some places private speeches as well. In order to avoid conflicts and violence, students are given limited freedom to engage themselves in religious practices, discussions and other activities that are not any threat to the study environment. At the same time, the various teachers and administrative departments are thought of as solicitors of their respective schools in order to discourage any religious activity being organized by the students. Nonetheless, various public schools are given liberty to teach history of religion, and also learn about comparison of various religions so that students may also learn religious histories (National PTA, 2004).
It is also important to make some laws that punish the students involved in any religious and ethnic movements in school or any such activities that will lead to future conflict and disturb healthy educational environments of schools. During Clinton’s tenure, the U.S. Secretary of education and the Attorney General provided some principles stating the limit of religious freedom and expression in all public school districts in America (Marc, 1999). This helped schools not only in restricting and limiting religious and ethnic activities, leading to future conflict, but also strengthened legal roots to control them.

Conclusion
Religious movements and ethnic conflicts has always been a serious threat to peace and security of humanity. With the development of the world in various spheres and fields, religious activities have started playing prominent roles in educational institutions. Specifically, the strong interference of the Church in the policies of schools and the dominant practice of religious activities at school became the root cause of violence at schools. With the modernization of world and globalization, the influx of ethnic and religious multiplicity at school has increased. Therefore, state authorities as well as the administrative departments have become more concerned in limiting religious issues leading to conflict at schools. State, government, parents as well as private organizations have joined hands to cope with this serious challenge threatening the healthy educational environment as well as the peaceful development of society. If all work seriously and collectively religious conflicts can be prevented significantly.