ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW

I surfed a little to find out the history of this and, although I didn't exactly (find) what I was looking for, I did find an interesting response to it on another forum,

http://www.friendsofsc.com/forums/sh...072#post102072

That's really very misleading.

For one thing, prayers can be said privately, either aloud or silently, as long as they do not disrupt instruction. There is no law that prevents it. Neither is there a law against discussing the Ten Commandments or anything in the Bible as long as it is not presented as a religious service and do not infringe on instruction time. But even religious services are not forbidden as long as they are not during class time.

When I was teaching biology I always started the chapter on evolution by comparing what the textbook presented with the first page of Genesis. My belief, and my contention, is that there is no conflict. They both tell the same story in different ways. I have never understood how some people believe that God could create the heavens and the earth and everything in and on them, but that he could not have set in motion the processes described by scientists, which, by the way, are altogether beautiful once you understand them. There is in fact a major movement right now, unreported by regular journalists, to reconcile scientific and spiritual matters. The movement includes Nobel Prize winners and the Dalai Lama, as well as many many Christians. But these are the Christians that do not call themselves the "religious right", so the "religious right" does not count them. I can recommend some very good writing on this subject if you're interested.

During the last few years that I taught we had lunchtime meetings, in a classroom, led by youth ministers from a local church and by teachers. We did provide pizza, and I know that some students came just for that, but the majority of them were sincere in their searching and the practicing of their faith. There was nothing illegal about it. The people who say that things like this don't happen or can't happen are simply not telling the truth and I suspect that many of them know that they are not telling the truth.

What there is not anymore is the formal prayer that once started off the school day, led by somebody over the school speaker system. And I'm sure that not all schools are the same, that some are more accepting than others. But in my experience the crackdown on religion that some people would have you believe simply did not exist.

It's just that it cannot take up class time. I don't know about you, but I can say a prayer without anybody even knowing it. I don't need anybody's approval or permission. I can do it in ten seconds between classes. When I have more time I can devote more time to it if I choose. This is just another hate tactic being put out by the haters who seem to hate anything that there is any possibility of hating. I would hope that not many Christians are among the haters, but unfortunately I know that there are many who see no conflict between hating and being a Christian, and THAT is perverted.

The "religious right" is a contradiction in terms.

If you think about it from someone like me, who is not particular religious, why should I be subjected to praying and what not if it is not who I am or how I was raised. When I was in school I did say and continue to say the word God in the Pledge but really, it is not who I am. I don't make a fuss out of it and am certainly not going to protest it but one could write a poem about being forced to say something that one does not believe in.

Now I sit me down in school
Forced to say God because its the rule ...