What of prayer in public schools?
We must first recognize that public schools are an arm of government. In Arkansas, they are mandated and funded by county, state and federal governments, with (some) local control provisioned through the election of a local school board to oversee the local public school district. As a government institution, a public school is subject to the Arkansas and U.S. Constitutions and laws and also to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which limits government jurisdiction and activities to protect the God-given rights of the people.
The First Amendment reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Though, initially, the protections were in regard to the legislative powers of the U.S. Congress, the 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868, extended those protections to include actions of state and local governments through Section 1, which states: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Yes, the Arkansas Constitution also affords many of the same guaranteed protections of God-given rights; but the issue here, and in public schools across the nation, relates to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and, particularly, the first clause of the amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," known as the Establishment Clause.
This clause basically guarantees three things to protect the rights of the American people: 1) Congress may not legislate to establish an official religion or denomination in the United States and require people to support it or be a part of it; 2) Congress may not legislate in favor of one religion or denomination over another religion or denomination; and 3) Congress may not legislate in a way which favors or disfavors believers or unbelievers of any religion or denomination over another. In other words, it means government agencies may not require citizens to participate in any religion or denomination; nor may they discriminate against any in regard to their religion or denomination.
This is not freedom from religion but freedom of religion. And, it is a blessing to both Christian and non-Christian, to the religious and nonreligious. It permits Christians to participate in the church or denomination of their convictions and choosing and does not permit government to require all citizens to belong to a particular state church -- whether Anglican, Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Baptist or Lutheran -- and require us to support that church with our taxes. It also permits those of other faiths, or of no faith at all, the freedom to practice or not practice religion. And, whether one agrees or not with one being free of religion, it would do no good to force an unbeliever to pretend to be a Christian or of some other faith.
And how does all this apply to prayer in the public schools?
First of all, anyone who understands prayer knows that it cannot be outlawed anywhere because any believing student can pray silently as he walks down the halls or while sitting in a classroom before she takes a test -- and many times, during the test. No moment of silence is even needed, though it may be nice to have the opportunity to pray without interruption.
But, what about prayer which is school sponsored, teacher led or even student led but school scheduled? This seems to be the current issue, with prayer (invocations and benedictions) scheduled at school graduation ceremonies.
Admittedly, it is difficult sometimes to distinguish between a student or teacher exercising his or her God-given and Constitutionally-protected right to pray or study the Bible and the school usurping the role of citizens and churches to teach and promote one religious belief over another. And we need to defend with all our might the right to pray, study our Bibles and share our faith in free speech (also guaranteed under the First Amendment); but we need to stop short of making our public schools into teachers or promoters of religion or of one denomination or faith over another.
The policy change proposed for adoption by the Gentry School Board (published in last week's Eagle Observer and on the school district's website) actually does a good job of this. It seeks to preserve the God-given rights of students and teachers to pray and read their Bibles on the school campuses, but it also sets bounds for the role of a government-controlled school in promoting prayer, religious beliefs or the beliefs or practices of one religion or denomination over that of others.
My 15 children are all grown but I have more grandchildren than I can count on the fingers and toes of both me and my wife, and I want them to have the right to take their Bibles to school and read them during lunch breaks or study halls when assignments are done and I want them to be able to pray there; but I do not want a public school teacher or administrator to be teaching Christian doctrine or leading them in prayer because I have no assurance or guarantee that a public school employee would be a faithful Christian or even a Christian at all.
We need to remember that, when we insist on allowing schools to promote prayer, it might not be to the Triune God of the Bible, in the name of Jesus Christ or even to any recognizable god at all. And, for those who take seriously the Bible's admonitions not to listen to the teaching of heretics or to join together in prayer with those who do not accept all that the Bible teaches, how could one appreciate school-sponsored or school-encouraged prayer if the teacher or student in charge is of another faith or of another denomination that does not accept all that the Bible teaches!
The solution, of course, for parents who wish to have their children taught from the Bible or taught to pray at school is parochial schools or home schools where the religious teaching and worship practices are in agreement with the faith of the parents.
Yes, I am a big supporter of churches having their own schools for training their young; and, where that is not possible, for parents to homeschool their children so that they might learn their reading, writing and arithmetic but also be taught a Christian worldview and Biblical doctrine. And now, even where good parochial schools are not available, homeschooling options and materials are so much better and more available than they were just a few years ago.
Had I the opportunity to go back and do it all over again, I would have homeschooled all my children or moved to a place where there was a good parochial school for them to attend -- it's one of my biggest regrets that I did not fight against the laws of that time and teach my children at home. Not only could they have received a better and more advanced education, they would have had more opportunity to learn Biblical doctrine and how that fits together with science, math, language, arts, economics and even politics.
Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 08/03/2016