Prayer in School

Every so often somebody gets on a kick and tries to pass a prayer in school law. Now I grew up in that Secular Wilderness of Oregon and California, and never did we begin class with a prayer. Not sure my mother who grew up in Southern California ever did either. Now we had prayers at graduation and all, and we had a Christian club at school. But everything that we did was student initiated, except a couple of ceremonial moments each year (which could easily be handled outside school).

In my reading of Mark Toulouse's God in Public (see earlier post on the Bible as Icon), he gives a list of five issues that need to be considered whenever we talk about prayer in school and by extension other public venues (from a Christian perspective). Mark says that points 1 and 5 shouldn't be too controversial, but the same can't be said for 2-4.

1. "Prescribed prayers, written by employees of the state or school system, do not belong in public schools."
  • Remember that when public officials get involved in such things they too often get things wrong!

2. "Prayer has not been kicked out of the school system."

  • This is the great myth -- that schools prohibit prayer or Bible reading. Nothing in the Constitution prohibits personal/voluntary prayer, Bible reading, or conversation about religion, as long as it's not school sponsored or coercive. Mark does talk here about the fuzziness of "moment's of silence" that have been given some legal wiggle-room, but which could easily become religiously coercive.
  • Besides, why do we need to set aside a minute of the day for silent reflection? Can't the student find the time and place without school involvement?

3. "Specific Christian prayers are not appropriate for either public schools or for events sponsored by public school districts (and by extension, at other kinds of public events like Chamber of Commerce meetings or presidential inaugurations)."

  • So far I've not been invited to issue such invocations, though the local city council invites clergy to do so (I guess I'm too controversial/liberal/whatever).
  • It's important to remember that the nation we live in isn't homogeneous and it's important to consider how a Christian prayer -- "in the name of Jesus" is received by a Jew, a Muslim, a Buddhist, or an atheist.
  • Mark writes: "Christian prayers belong in Christian contexts, not contexts where people, representing both many different kinds of faith and no faith, are gathered for purposes unrelated to Christianity."

4. "Christians out to think twice, even when the law allows, before offering generic prayers in public schools or at events sponsored by public school prayers (and by extension, at other kinds of public events like Chamber of Commerce meetings or presidential inaugurations)."

  • Now this one hits close to home. Many of us have out of sensitivity to our neighbor refrained from praying with the particularism of the Christian faith, but Mark makes an important point about the context of prayer.
  • Generic prayers serve, he says, a secular purpose -- and so are they really prayers? If prayer is rooted in worship, then such generic prayers don't really qualify.
  • So, even if I do get asked to pray at the city council, is my generic prayer of any real purpose? Interesting question!

5. "The Public school systems have done a woeful job, through adoption of bad textbooks and through inadequate teaching, of addressing adequately the serious role religion does play in human life."

  • Part of the problem here is that districts don't understand the court rulings that permit objective teaching about religion, and so in fear they teach nothing. But, whether we like it or not, religion has played a significant role in human history. To ignore it is to be unhistorical!
  • And so we would be better served by working across religious lines to make sure that "religion is treated fairly and with respect within curriculums in America's public schools" than trying to ram either sectarian or generic prayers down every one's throats!

I think that these five statements are pregnant with possibilities for discussion.

Comments

chaindropz said…
I agree with you we should not accept generic prayer.
The Colonies were established as Christians. Our mother country England provided us with a system of worship where the community was taxed to support the Church. Preachers were jailed for preaching born again religion because it was contrary to the doctrine of the established Church. We declared our independence in 1776. The established Church attempted to continue taxation. Deist and Baptist fought this along with other Churches and are responsible for our religious freedom established in 1785. So it could be argued that we were a Christian Nation for our first 9 years although it was protested. . We owe our Christian Founders for our religious freedom. We became a Christian Nation by individual choice independent of Government. The Deist were celebrated politicians but did not have the numbers to do anything without Christian Support. It is interesting to note Massachusetts was a Christian Congregationalist state that did not tolerate Catholics until 1833. These facts are well documented. Some conclusions are purely mine.


http://www.churchstatelaw.com/historicalmaterials/8_1_2_11.asp
Anonymous said…
When you consider that some people consider any prayer to be offensive, maybe a generic prayer isn't so bad. After all, a prayer that acknowledges God (or Allah, or the Great Spirit, etc.) at least makes a statement that this is one nation under God (atheists & others notwithstanding). And if they ever invite you to offer a prayer at the City Council meeting, go for it.

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