Religion in/or the Schools

Elberon, NJ June 22, 2000 Aaron H. Schectman

THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on issues, ideas and reflections on the times. Published now and
then. Opinions pro or con are welcome.
RELIGION IN/AND THE SCHOOLS
I hate to continue to belabor an issue, but George Will's contribution to
the continuing discourse about the Supreme Court's decision about prayer in
school, should be answered.

What Will said essentially is that the religious "thing" is no big thing
and the Supreme Court majority was overreaching in what should be an easy
thing to reconcile. He would allow prayer in the schools.

Now, I got to thinking this thing through. I endured meaningless
graduation ceremonies, the Baccalaureate being the best example, which were
conceived of as a group religious prayer blessing those who "completed"
their education. Prayers were led by people of the cloth and thus gave
religious coloring to the proceedings. Attempts have been made to make
these ceremonies "non-denominational". Unfortunately, in the public
schools, prayer cannot be neutral and is definitely uncomfortable to those
who do not wish to be prayed over - or participate in that way.

The concept of prayer before an athletic event (read BATTLE) distresses me.
If I remember correctly, opposing armies girded for battle by praying to
their Gods to be with them. I have always wondered about the losing side -
did the outcome mean its God was defeated? If one team wins today, does
that mean its prayers are more worthy or that the God they pray to is a
better God?

These are sticky areas in which one should not wander. Small town teams
that say, "Let Us ALL Pray", are not correct in having a public prayer led
by either a student leader or some official. When has organized group
prayer been shown ever to influence the course of events? Specialized
groups may do what they want. The public should not be put in the position
where people are forced to voice their unity through prayer, a private act.

Many years ago, the founders of our constitutional system wrote that there
should be a separation between Church and State. So be it. What do you
think? Carol's Evaluation: 8 out of 10