I was
sitting around waxing nostalgic about my early school days at Hildebran Elementary
School in Hildebran, NC. I recalled how we started our day with a prayer and a
bible story out of Ms. Pitt’s bible story book. There was nothing unusual about
it. It was just part of our routine. I mean after all, she was just sharing the
“truth”, RIGHT? How innocent was I to
not even know of or think that anyone would ever object to this kind of
activity.
The Old Hildebran School - Hildebran, NC
To be
honest, I didn’t give it a 2nd thought. I was just a kid. It was
just a prayer, it was just a bible story and I still hated math! Well, not
really, but you get the point. By the time I hit 5th grade , the bible
stories were no longer a part of the daily routine, however my teacher Ms.
Watkins taught us all how to say the “God is great” prayer in sign language.
Every day before lunch we would stand up and motion the prayer and recite it together
as a class. It was cool.
In 6th
grade it was all business. Just like all the years before, I would show up,
full of energy, and have to confine myself to a desk and learn about the Civil War
and slavery. Not to mention a host of other topics that I hated THEN, but
strangely enough, find great interest in NOW!
Go figure?! Yet, my days of getting any spiritual nourishment had
passed!
Fast forward
to my 20’s, where I became more of aware of the debate surrounding prayer in
school. It wasn’t a terribly big deal to me and I didn’t give it much thought at
first, yet as my social awareness grew with age, I begin to form my own opinions.
I begin to question whether it was right for my teachers to have included those
things in our routine and wondered why they did. I also wondered why there was
such a hullabaloo over it by those who opposed it. Were they overreacting? Is there or could
there be a common ground reached by these opposing sides?
Where did
this debate come from? Where did it start and why?
These kinds of are what motivate me to investigate
matters of faith and hopefully gain a greater understanding of the underpinnings
of such arguments. This quest for the truth led me to the town of Edgerton, Wisconsin where in 1886 the “Edgerton Bible Case” and essentially the “prayer
in schools” debate began.
The story goes that in the 1880’s the school teachers in Edgerton would start each day
reading the King James’ version of the bible to their classes. This upset the
minority of Catholics who preferred the use of Douay-Rheims translation. They held
the belief that theirs was the only correct version of the bible and did not
want their children hearing an alternate translation. A court
battle ensued and over the next 2 years the case made its way to the Wisconsin State
Supreme Court. In 1888 the Court ruled that the practice of reading the bible to
the children was a violation of church and state and therefore considered it unlawful to do so.
The current
status of the “Prayer in School” is that a school teacher can’t engage in
religious practices or teachings in a classroom setting. This would be a
violation of the first amendment and the “Establishment Clause.” This however
does not prevent a person’s right to pray (in private) in school OR wherever
they may choose. To prevent one from praying in a private way, would ALSO be a
violation of the first amendment and the “Free Exercise” clause.
One of the
strongest organizations that advocates for prayer in schools is the Liberty
Institute located in Plano, Texas. After looking at their website I have to
admit that there is cleverness to their tact. While they are not aiming
directly for prayer in the classroom, they are challenging for the right for a
student to pray at ceremonies and the right for expressions of faith at
functions outside the classroom. In one of their cases they advocated for the
right of the Kountz High School cheerleaders to use a banner that includes the
bible verse Phillipians 4:13 (I can do
all things through Christ who strengthens me) to help inspire the football team
to victory. On May of this year, the cheerleaders won their case and can continue
to display bible verses on spirit banners.
It brings up
an interesting question about those who desire the right to pray publicly; The
question is simply WHY? I personally see no need to pray publicly. Yes, it can
be part of a ceremony but it doesn’t HAVE to be. The cheerleaders could choose
other words to display on the spirit banners. Why does it have to have a
religious tie in? After all, isn’t God for the other team too?? I am going to
be very assumptive in saying this but I believe that most who pray publicly are
more worried about their performance than connecting with God. If you don’t
believe me, just asked the next person you know who is asked to kick off a
Rotary meeting with a prayer. They are generally nervous and worried about how
they’ll do. In the case of the cheerleaders I believe it is more about
proselytizing than it is about lifting the team. Maybe I’m jaded?
Please know
that I am not offended by public prayer nor am I advocating its ban, but for
the high school senior who wishes to pray publicly at his graduation ceremony, I fear its more about their ego than it is centering the whole audience on God. What’s wrong with taking time
to pray in private and then mentioning how much their faith means to them in
their public statements? That is allowed by the way. There are no rules against
it. Isn’t this a better way than serving the individuals egotistical needs to
be heard praying, not to mention wasting tax payer dollars in legal wranglings
on such frivolity? I tend to get riled up when I see someone pushing their own
personal agenda upon others and that is what I feel has happened with the
prayer in schools debate. The Conservative Christian movement is wanting to
impose the will of its faith upon others. Although I consider myself a
Christian, I don’t think that this is the Christian thing to do. It would
eventually lead to the infusion of all faiths being given the opportunity to
express THEIR faith. If it continued, I could imagine years down the road, the Bible
reading followed by a reading from the Koran. How would THAT fly in Texas? I wondered also
if the Liberty Institute would be there to support that cause. So I emailed
them to ask. The following was the response I received from one of their legal
assistants Melissa Sanz:
“Thank you for contacting Liberty Institute. While most of us
here are Christians, our goal is to protect religious liberty, regardless of
which faith. We are able to help in cases where the right to religious
expression in houses of worship, in schools, or in public has been threatened.
We recognize that freedom of religious expression as guaranteed in the first
amendment must exist for all faiths or else it will not truly protect any
religion.”
Melissa Sanz
Legal Assistant
Liberty Institute
While I do
appreciate advocacy groups that seek to protect our First Amendment freedoms I
don’t believe that school is the place for prayer nor is it the place for faith
based actions that express in other ways. At the end of the day we can thank those
“Cheesehead” Catholics in Edgerton, Wisconsin for first bringing the issue to
light.
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