Angél Stewart wrote:
>
> But America has already decided that prayer, of any form, has no place in
> schools.
>
I beg to differ, 'Gel. America has decided no such thing. What America,
through it's Constitution and court rulings based on it, has decided is
that "State-sponsored" prayer has no constitutional protection. The fact
that there are teachers and administrators who are idiots doesn't change
a thing. The right to pray is as sacrosanct as it ever was.
To give an example, when I was in school, I had no choice but to
participate in school-sponsored prayer. It didn't matter if you were a
Jew, a Muslim, or an Atheist, you were going to pray (or appear to do
so) and end your prayer, "in Jesus' name." In those days, I don't ever
recall any group of my fellow students engaging in prayer circles. If
they prayed at any other time during the day than the morning
devotional, no one knew about it (which is, after all, the Christian
precept, is it not?).
The key to the issue is whether the school, as an arm of the government,
is requiring any religious observance on the part of any students. If
the school allows a group of kids to use a classroom, on their own time,
for a prayer meeting -- like after school, or during lunch or recess --
they are not requiring any religious observance. They are merely
allowing people to associate for their own purposes. But when a school
allows (or requires) a teacher, or a coach, or a student, to lead a
classroom or an assembly in a prayer, the school puts an official,
government stamp of approval on a religious observance.
The problems many people complain about are the result of stupidity on
the part of school officials who don't understand the Constitution and,
so, err on the side of caution. What these people should do, instead of
wailing about the rights they think have been taken away, is sue these
officials, not to force prayer on anyone, but to force these officials
to allow people to voluntarily engage in religious practices. If they
can't afford it, they ought to ask the ACLU to help out (which they do
in these cases, by the way). The mere fact that religious activities
occur on school grounds is not an endorsement by the school and so is
not illegal or unconstitutional. But allowing prayer where attendance is
not voluntary is a different matter.
Personally, I'm tired of hearing that prayer in school is illegal.
Nothing could be further from the truth. But if we allow stupidity to
reign supreme, it will become the case, by default.
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