Prayer in our Schools?

I recently received an email asking me to sign a petition to “Put prayer back in schools.” The text of the email went like this: 

“Believers should sign to let the lawmakers and the so called powers that be know we should be allowed to openly pray, and let God back into our schools. We live in the land of the free, and we should freely be able to allow God to come back in.”

For anyone who has read many of these posts, you’ll know that I’m a Christian. Yet, this petition troubled me. While I know the person who sent this to me was well meaning, I can’t sign this. Even though in many ways, I agree with her sentiments. So I figured I’d explain why.

Let me start by citing the very first words of the very first amendment to the US Constitution. It states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Keeping that in mind…

I’m not sure what this petition is asking. If it’s asking us to allow students to pray, then the petition is unneeded. I don’t know of any law that prohibits that. First of all, it would violate the first amendment by “prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” Besides, really, how would it be enforced? If a student is in a silent prayer, how could he be punished for that? I’ve had students carry Bibles with them, and of course, there’s no law against that. I’ve had students pray during class, and once again, that is completely acceptable. There is no law that prohibits that, and it would be impossible to enforce, even if there were.

Or maybe they are asking for me, as a teacher, to be allowed to lead a prayer. I admit that sounds nice, and part of me wishes that was allowed. But let me point out that the separation of church and state is not some liberal idea, it’s the first amendment.  And because of this, it means that I can’t lead a prayer. As a public school teacher, I am part of the government. By me leading a Christian prayer, that would definitely be “establishing a religion.” I’m not sure how that can be interpreted any other way.

Or maybe they mean that a student should be able to lead a prayer. Well, I suppose that’s not against the constitution. However, I have a Muslim student. Would it be OK then for her to lead a prayer as well? How about a Buddhist? Or maybe a Wiccan? If we are not establishing a religion, then I would think we’d have to allow all religions their turn.

You can say that America was founded as a Christian nation, and I would believe that. But the First Amendment certainly disallows any plan to force that religion on others. And although we may not like it, it’s the constitution. With all the allegiance paid recently to the second amendment, I find it odd that we seem to have forgotten the first.

Now, if you argue that God is being removed from our society, I can definitely honor that argument. However, to blame the government or the schools is really shifting the blame. If more and more Americans are becoming disenfranchised with religion, then shame on the churches and other religious organizations for not responding to that. Jesus didn't just offer more of the same. He was a radical, with a completely new approach to religion. It was NOT what they had always done. And of course, what he did made all the difference. He made religion relevant to the people. If we don’t do that, then yes, religion is in trouble. Of course that concerns me. But that’s for an entirely different post.

While I believe we definitely need more God in our society, it has nothing to do with leading a prayer in school.

Respects

Recently I attended a viewing at the local funeral home. The deceased had been a neighbor of mine, and while I wouldn't say we were good friends, we definitely knew each other. We would talk when we were outside, and although she was old, she could be pretty interesting. In the winter we used to shovel her walk and driveway whenever the snow came. For that we were routinely rewarded with various baked goods, which were always great. But she had been in a nursing home for the better part of a year, and so I hadn’t seen her. Still when word came of her death, it of course saddened me. And I thought I should go to the funeral home just to pay my respects to the family.

When we arrived at the funeral home, there were, of course, family members there. I didn't really know any of them, but I did see one person that I slightly knew. He waved at me, and I didn't find out till later that he was a grandson. But as we moved to where the woman was lying, there was nobody at the casket. We walked up to it, and mumbled a few things to each other about the woman. We looked at the pictures, admired the flowers, signed the guest book, gave a memorial, and walked out.

Yet nobody came up to talk to us. Nobody asked us who we were. Nobody said “It’s nice of you to be here, how did you know my mother?” Nobody talked to us at all. This woman was a mother and a grandmother, and I know they loved and cared for her, and I’m not trying to imply anything different. But I know that when my parents died, a lot of people that I didn't know said some very nice things about them. I wanted to hear that, and those people wanted to say it. Yet, this time, that didn't happen. I wanted to tell them about the snow and the baked goods, I wanted to tell them about the redbud tree she gave us. I wanted to tell them some nice things about their mother. Because I knew they would want to hear it. But I didn't say it, and they didn't hear it. Still, I'm sure there were plenty of others who did.

I know after long hours at a funeral home, sometimes people can slip in and out, and I completely understand that. And I'm not suggesting the family did anything wrong. But I couldn't help projecting forward to my funeral. While it’s not necessary that my loved ones stand by my casket with a constant flow of tears, I hope that at least someone is there to greet anyone who happens to stop by. Because those people will, (hopefully) want to say some nice things about me.

And (hopefully) my loved ones will want to hear it.

What Would It Hurt?

The topic of gun control is everywhere now. And depending on who you listen to, apparently we need fewer guns, or maybe just a whole lot more of them. Honestly, I don’t know what the best policy is.

It seems logical to me that if we have fewer guns, we’d have fewer gun crimes, but I’m told that’s naive, and maybe it is. It would also seem to me that, while the second amendment says we are allowed to carry firearms, it doesn’t necessarily say we get to have assault rifles and high capacity clips. A lot of people think it does though. But if the second amendment says there can be no limits of any kind on firearms, then can I own a tank as well? How about Cruise Missiles? Even nuclear ones, I suppose.

And I’ve read tons of reasons why limiting assault rifles and high capacity clips wouldn’t solve anything anyway. Such as:

• If someone wants a weapon bad enough, he’s always going to be able to get it. In other words, the criminals will always have them, and a ban will just hurt us good guys.
• If the shooters didn’t have these apparent weapons of choice, they could just strap multiple handguns on themselves, and that would serve just as well.
• It’s possible to kill people just as easily with hammers and knives, so what’s the point.

Maybe these reasons are valid. Maybe banning these things wouldn’t solve anything. I honestly don’t know.

But my question is, what would it hurt? I mean, if we're talking about hunting or self defense, we can probably get by with lesser weapons, couldn't we? Now I know that a lot of people want to have these weapons. But I hate stopping at red lights. I want to cruise right through them. Really I do, I hate stopping all the time. But I do stop. Because I figure I can make that sacrifice for the public safety. Doesn’t that apply here?

I’m not saying they should take your guns. Really, I'm not. I’m not even saying to ban assault rifles. I honestly don’t know the answer. I just wonder “What possibly could it hurt?”