School Prayer
Recently I've become aware of what seems to me to be a widespread misunderstanding of the school prayer issue. Many people seem to feel that current laws are designed to inhibit the free practice of religion, but in reality, these laws are intended to protect individual students' rights to practice religion in the way they see fit. They ensure that Baptist, Catholic, Muslim, and Jewish pupils living in my native Utah aren't forced to participate in Mormon prayers and that Mormon and other non-Baptist pupils living in the heavily Baptist south are likewise protected from being forced to participate in Baptist prayers.
Now the truth is that if we were all even half as tolerant as we think we are, we wouldn't have a big problem with participating in each others' religious rituals. I doubt many would disagree that a sincere prayer offered by a Baptist is every bit as valid in God's eyes as a Catholic prayer or a Buddhist ritual. Yet, for some reason, we feel uncomfortable being exposed to other ways of worshipping. This is certainly understandable, though, in situations where such participation is mandated by governmental authority as it would be if it were happening in our schools. Religious expressions are only valid when they are engaged in of a person's own free will.
But the most important point I wish to make is that no child or adult is now prevented from praying in any building, public or private, anywhere in the United States, including our schools. How on earth could we (and why would we want to) ban a prayer in the heart? As every informed person knows, the ban on prayer in schools is a ban on official prayers which require student participation. Contrary to popular opinion, students are not prohibited from carrying Bibles or other religious books with them to school and reading them during their free time. (In a recent instance where school officials attempted to ban students from bringing religious texts to school, I believe this reflects an ignorance of the law similar on the part of school officials). The laws restrict official lessons in religious subjects with mandatory student participation. That is right and good, and reasonable people of all religious persuasions support and uphold this idea.
It is not the role of American public schools to provide religious training. That is the role of parents. If they desire the assistance of a religious institution such as a church or a mosque, then that is their own business. Certainly children do need training in ethics (recent events in the stock market have made this clear **addition by author in Aug 2002**), but it's up to parents to see that they get it in the religious institution of their choice or by whatever means they view as right or correct.
As for recent violence in the schools, we simply cannot blame this on what many are calling "the absence of God" in our schools. Parents need to take more responsibility for their own children and not expect that hardworking and undercompensated teachers will somehow make up for the deficient time they typically spend with them in this age of long commutes and 60-hour or longer work weeks.
And another thing: Members of the US House of Representatives should be courageous enough to stand up for a founding principle of our nation, the separation of church and state. Instead, they recently promoted the Ten Commandments to quasi-official status by declaring that they could be posted on the walls of public schools. Now don't get me wrong. I don't have anything against the Ten Commandments. But they have to be taught in context in order to be understood. For example, it is hard to imagine that a fifth-grader will find much of relevance in the second commandment which reads:
"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth."
In all likelihood, many would simply use it as an excuse to neglect any homework involving graphics or drawings. In any case, it seems unlikely they would read further after encountering such baffling information in number two.
The thing is, how are we going to agree on whose view of the Ten Commandments our children will be taught? When we leave the teaching of religion and ethics to our religious institutions, this is a simple matter. We can simply take them to the institution whose views we support, leaving the schools to pursue the teaching of secular subjects like science, phys ed, and the arts.
In closing, I request that you please not make the mistake of branding me anti-Christian for my views. As it so happens, I am a Christian. As such, I believe sincerely in the rights of all, both religious and non-religious, to be free of undesired compulsion and/or persuasion in matters of religion.
If you have a comment on what I've written above, please e-mail me: forgetfuljones@oocities.com
Thanks,
Dave on April 25, 2000 (with input by Amy who, incidentally, disagrees with my assertion that the Ten Commandments don't belong in our schools).
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