For years I have been troubled by e-mail forwards that call Christian parents to fight to have prayer "put back in our schools". These e-mails often perpetuate the claim that Christian children in public schools are not permitted to pray before they eat their lunch or take a test, that it’s not okay for a group of Christian students to gather before school or during recess for a prayer time and that a Christian student choosing to read their Bible or share their faith with a fellow student during non-instructional time will land in some serious hot water. While it most certainly is true that many school administrators and district officials have misinterpreted the law and have claimed that these activities are forbidden, our children, in fact, have every right to engage in these activities! When prevailed upon by an e-mail forward to help to petition our government to put prayer back in our schools, my response is generally this, “I will not petition our government to put prayer back in our schools because prayer
has never been removed from our schools!” Is it not bad enough that we have secular officials working against us, trying to deny our children their religious freedom? Christian parents should not help to perpetuate this misconception! We must be informed and help our children to be bold in standing up for their faith, and their constitutional right to practice and profess that faith. In fact, what leads parents and school officials alike to the false conclusion that prayer has been entirely removed from our schools is a series of Supreme Court decisions forbidding devotional prayer and Bible reading
led by teachers or school officials. According to an article on the
Answers in Genesis website, “The First Amendment to the United States Constitution, contained in the Bill of Rights, says that there may be no establishment of religion by the Government. ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.’ The government may not favor one religion over another, or as now interpreted by the courts, may not favor religion over non-religion. This provision of the Constitution is applied to states as well as to the federal Government.” Why am I okay with this? I have no desire to have any school employee leading my children in a prayer or Bible reading which that person may have no understanding of themselves. If a teacher, required to share a Bible reading or a morning prayer, has no interest in or understanding of the God of which they are reading or to whom they are praying, the reading or prayer will be entirely devoid of meaning and is more likely to cause harm and confusion to impressionable young listeners. If, rather, the school allows for a moment of silence at the start of the school day and my child chooses to spend that moment in prayer, that time will have real meaning to my child. My other primary reason for being glad that public schools are not permitted to endorse any religion is that they are not permitted to endorse
any religion. If we petition our government to allow, or even require, faculty led religious teaching in the schools, we have to be prepared for them to include the teaching of religious beliefs that we
do not want to have taught to our children. The religious education of my children is my husband’s and my own responsibility and I, for one, have no desire to have the public school system mucking around in that arena. They delve too far into that territory as it is with their determination to teach our children their own interpretation of the origin of the universe.
Having spoken my peace on the subject of what sort of prayer
has, in fact, been removed from our schools, let me now emphasize what sort of prayer
has not been removed. As stated in the
AiG article, “The First Amendment not only bars the establishment of religion by the state, it also guarantees that individual Americans have the right to the free exercise of their religion (or non-religion). ‘Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise (of religion].’ Public school children, being citizens of America, also have a right to the free exercise of their religion--even in the public schools.” We began emphasizing to our oldest daughter when she was in kindergarten that no one at school may tell her that she cannot take a moment to pray while at school, as long as it is not disruptive, after she came home upset that a teacher had not allowed her to pray. If anyone tried to tell her that again, we said, we would be requesting a conference. Now in her first year of high school, that same daughter is bold in professing her faith at school and is preparing to initiate meetings (with school approval and a staff sponsor) of a student Bible study. Christian parents, we must be aware of our student’s rights when it comes to the free exercise of their faith at school. Instead of cowering before those who would have us believe that any expression of faith is forbidden, we must
empower our children with the knowledge that they can and should be bold in expressing that faith! Our daughter has certainly encountered her share of persecution from other students. My heart aches for her at times, when she feels like an outcast because of her faith. She even considered hiding that faith when she entered high school, but quickly realized that, above all else, she wanted to be true to her Savior. Her father and I are so proud of her bold determination to let everyone see what role God plays in her life, in spite of how some may react. We know that her most difficult battles may still be ahead, but we are prepared to stand and fight with her, if necessary, for her constitutional right to openly profess her faith at school.
