Prayer in School?
I keep getting that same Internet chain letter. It comes around, like they all do, every few weeks. It's a long rambling rant, something that starts off with a variation on "I think it started when Madeline Murray O'Hare complained she didn't want any prayer in our schools, and we said okay...." and goes on to list all the evil things that have occurred because "they" (whoever "they" are), have "taken prayer out of school." O-kaaay... Actually, I don't remember ever praying in a public school as a kid, but anyway - I really just have one question:
Why should there be prayer in school? Seriously, why are the public schools being asked to teach our kids to pray?
The public school system in the US was established by an Act of Congress a few
years after the Civil War for the purpose of creating citizens. This was an
attempt by Congress to prevent a civil war from ever occurring again. That's the only reason public schools receive federal education
funds. Prior to that time, all parents either 'home-schooled' or had to pay the teacher by the month to teach their children. Because
of this, and the fact that there were so few 'teachers', most kids in the rural areas did not attend school outside the home at all.
There was never any intent in the law to have the federal government provide funds for the teaching of religion
(or computer skills or prayer or home economics). The only intent was to see to it that all US citizens know how to
read, write, do basic arithmetic, know some basics about the history of the United
States and to have a working knowledge of the US Constitution. Since this is (still) the requirement for all persons
seeking to be naturalized US citizens, it seemed rather silly to have higher requirements for naturalization, than to be a native-born citizen.
So, government "public" schools came into being, with the intent to
teach "citizenship skills". Period.
We are a multi-cultural society and no one, least of all a public servant, has the right to force their personal religious views on others. To do otherwise is
to create a 'state religion'. That's been tried, and it was a dismal failure. A great many of the early settlers who came from
England to America came her seeking religious freedom because they did not agree
with the Church of England. In England, the Anglican Church became the official
state religion. Dissenters were heavily fined, and often imprisoned.
Many of these prisoners were sent here, to the "New World", most of them, beginning in VA in
1611, were imprisoned, and then became "indentured servants" -
essentially slaves, working off their slavery, simply because they were dissenters from the
state religion in England. William Penn was a Quaker. Roger Williams was a Baptist. The Edwards and Mathers of MA were Congregationalists. While all of
them considered themselves to be Christians, the English state religion at that time did
not see them as Christians and the government severely mistreated them for their dissension. It was not a pleasant time in history... political games
played with faith as the wild card are ugly, and not something anyone ever wants to
repeat again. If history class is good for nothing else, let us at least learn the lessons it holds!
Legally, the "right" to pray in school, as long as it is not disruptive, or ordained
by the school, is 100% protected. This was definitively confirmed in 1994,
in the "Education Goals 2000 Bill", which stated that prayer was
constitutionally protected in schools, which it most indeed is, under the 1st Amendment.
In other words, this right is already protected, and has been for over
200 years!
So, YES! - Children may indeed pray in school! Of course they can! They may pray individually, and even as groups, as long as they aren't disrupting a class, or blocking a hallway, or a fire exit, some such thing. They may even have prayer, or Bible study "clubs"; they simply have to follow the rules of any other club. Schools may teach the Bible as literature, and teach religion too, as "comparative religion" or as part of a culture, such as teaching about how a Seder is done, or about Passover if discussing the Israel, and so on. However, what the school absolutely cannot do is officially select one faith or creed and promulgate that, and that is exactly as it should be.
By forbidding the schools to pick a religion and push that agenda, they are
*protecting* your rights, not abusing them! School is not church, is not the
family. I don't want my kid taught his faith by a public school teacher. That's
my job.
The Founding Fathers of this nation, Deists that many of them were, all knew that religion and government should never mix. We learned today, in Lisa's
tutorial on American history, that public schools are a service of the government. Therefore, I respectfully submit, that teaching prayer has no
place in them. That is the job of the family. Period, the end. If a particular denomination wishes to have a private
school, and include their own religion in their curriculum, that is their business.
Far too often the schools are playing not only babysitter, but mommy and daddy
as well, and that isn't their role. But more and more they are expected to fill
it. Then they dig in their heels and say, "wait a minute, YOU, the parent, have
the responsibility to teach YOUR faith to YOUR child, not us" - and people go wild. Boggles the mind. If they really thought about the diversity of
denominations at your typical American school, they'd never insist the school teach their kids how to pray...
What would an Evangelical Protestant do if little Beau came home reciting the "Hail Mary"? Or the Catholic mom, when little Francis Xavier comes home saying
the Lord's prayer with "debts", instead of "trespasses"? Or how about either of them coming home chanting
"ash-hadu alla ilah illallah ash-hadu an-na muhammadar rasululah" - Hey!
THAT'S NOT THE WAY WE DO IT!!! Oh my, and what a kettle of smelly fish that would be, eh?
You see what I mean, I would imagine? What is a multi-cultural public school to
do? The only thing it can do, and does do - respect the rights of all, and insist that religion remain separate from the functions of the government -
including, and maybe especially, government sponsored schools...
In a way, I guess I can see what folks are worried about. The way I see it, not
much of what we consider as necessary, moral or ethical is
"kewl". While every young person since the dawn of time has
thrown off the "shackles" of their parents beliefs, to go out and
forge the strong links of their own faith, it seems to me that we do have a
trend of, for lack of a better word, "nothingness".
The way I see it, it's not "kewl" to be "religious", unless you're
non-denominational "spiritual" or some weird "new-age-y" mishmash of stuff you read in a mythology book
once, and saw on Sabrina or Charmed or you watch Nick-at-Night and
catch re-runs of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie.
It's not "kewl" to be "patriotic" because now, they're not only all "crooks" (thank you Mr. Nixon, for
that legacy...) but now they're sleazy as well, and worse, it's ok, or at least it's unpunished.... So, why care about that...
And as for caring for other people, they are all just "sleezes" on the
dole anyway, right? And giving a rip about the planet? You're either "soft", or a "hippie wannabe" - but not kewl...
To me, it is becoming abundantly clear that it's not "guns" or "prayer in school" that is the central issue. It's that nothing really seems to matter anymore. Not in our hearts. We constantly look for something, or someone to blame, for whatever we think is going "wrong" with "everything. Something outside, "out there". We are empty, but we don't even realize it. We have no heart, we have no central core. That's what the problem is, or at least that's what I think, anyway.
300 years ago, religious separatists came to the northern part of this continent, because their central core of faith in their God was so strong, that nothing was going to stand in their way. It was their central core, a fire that burned in their hearts and minds, and helped them build a nation that came to be when every lesson that history had ever taught said it was impossible.
We never should have even existed, as a nation!! There had
never been a colony that successfully tore themselves away from the rule of the parent sovereign.
That was the same spirit that fueled the expansion of the nation. Folks took their lives in their hands, and followed the call of
their dreams. They packed their wagons, climbed onto ships - did whatever
it took to follow those dreams of theirs. They had a strong central core of rock-bottom faith
in some ideal, a faith that fueled them, fed them and led them to accomplish what seemed
"impossible", over and over and over again.
That is what we have "lost", in my opinion. That drive, that sense of purpose. You don't see that kind of devotion to ideals any more. People can't even
imagine it. We're spinning in circles, lost, looking for someone to blame. We've systematically dismantled our cultural infrastructure, until we have no
"national identity", we have nothing. We have CNN and a rock star who dresses like
Mortica Adams, who dances on stage preaching nihilism - the glorification of
"nothing". We see blood every night on the TV news, kids shooting each other,
or someone shooting up a restaurant. So now we have some folks wailing about "no prayer in school",
running about wringing their hands, and that's supposed to fix things?
Know what we need to
do?
We gotta stop wringing our hands.
And we had better stop waiting for "someone" to come along and "fix" things.
WE are responsible for our own lives. And if you see something that needs doing, well, you better do it, because death and taxes aren't the only sure
things in life - the other sure thing is that no one else will live your faith for you.
- You want your kids to pray? Then you teach them, that's your job, not the school's.
How about this - Let us all pray, not for prayer in school, but prayer in the hearts, and in the
homes of every child. Let's all pray that all parents, everywhere, take their
God-given job to BE parents seriously, and wake up to the tremendous
responsibility that they have. Please, God, wake them up, help them
to realize that they are the first, and best teachers for their children!
If we want things to
change, we have to stop pointing fingers, and start changing them
ourselves. No one else will do it for us.
Lisa Alekna,
Natty's Mommy
May 15th, 2000
http://users.javanet.com/~lanat/catholic.htm
Why is it that when you talk to the Almighty you're praying, but when He talks
to you, you're crazy?
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