In an earlier post I mentioned a new project, which at the moment consists only (for me, anyway) of writing a letter to local papers voicing what is, here in Sussex County evidently, a minority opinion. A Jewish family is actually, with the help of the ACLU, bringing suit against the school district. Unless the district wises up pretty fast. What I'm gonna do is just paste in my letter to the editors of the local papers, I hope it's self-explanatory. And I am going for one more grocery run, then off to BWI to pick up some travelers. This really may be my last post for the rest of the week. But. You never know.
To The Editor:
Last Tuesday, July 27, I attended the Indian River School District School Board Meeting. This is not something I normally do, though perhaps it should be; my reason for attendance was the discussion to be held on the subject of Christian prayer at school events. To my surprise, the meeting itself began with a prayer, which included the name of Jesus. The particular event in question was the Sussex Central graduation earlier this year, at which a minister gave an invocation also including reference to Jesus.
The meeting allowed many speakers to passionately speak their hearts and minds, and I listened carefully to all of them. Some were speaking for keeping specifically Christian prayer in school events, some were speaking of the fact that it is not only divisive but illegal to do so. All were speaking sincerely, from the depths of their convictions.
Those who favor retaining Christian prayer at public, government-funded, events seem to feel that removing such prayer would be abrogating some kind of inherent right they have to do this. They seem further to feel that the framers of the Constitution, the Founders of our government, would be on their side in this controversy. They seem, in fact, to see this as a "Christian nation." When nothing could be further from the truth. A few framers of the Constitution were in favor of proclaiming the new nation to be a Christian one, but men like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison prevailed and after much deliberation and hammering out of language, the Establishment Clause became part of the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." Jefferson, Madison, and others had seen the results of combining religion and government in the monarchies of England and Spain. We can see the effects of state religion today in the theocracies of Iran under the Ayatollahs, Afghanistan under the Taliban. As a result of the Establishment Clause, what we have in this country is "the free right to exercise" whatever religion we choose to follow.
This is the right we all share equally: to follow Jesus Christ, Allah, Yahweh, Buddha, Wicca, to witness for Jehovah, to dance with Pan in the moonlight, or to follow the bent of our own reason and be atheists or agnostics. This incredible freedom is what our Constitutions, both of the USA and of our state of Delaware, allow us. If Christianity is your belief, you may worship at your church daily if you wish to; you may pray constantly in your own home; you may instruct your children in whatever way you need to. Your right to your beliefs is not infringed upon in any way. But we have no national religion, and at public and government events, none of us may impose our religious beliefs upon a diverse group of citizens. This is not something, as many of the speakers Tuesday night seemed to think, that a majority can vote or agree upon. This is something that is legally part and parcel of our life as Americans. Please don’t take the IRSD through an expensive and ugly lawsuit to, in the end, decide again something that was first wisely decided well over two hundred years ago.
Sincerely,
(my name and address)
4 comments:
You know what my faith means to me, and I cannot in good conscience support public school prayers. Any government institution has to represent the whole of the community it represents. Historically, though Christianity has played a large role, in this country, we are not a Christian nation. We are not designed to be any religion's nation. That freedom protects Christians as much as anyone else, and I think that some people need to see that in imposing their will on others, they're making it easier for others to deny their own rights. On a religious level, Christians have been cautioned about ostentatious public prayer. It was a habit of the Pharisees, and private prayer was what Christ recommended to his followers.
Beautifully Written.
V
This is a wonderful letter.
I wonder how shortsighted some groups of people can be. This subject is something that's really bothered me. Certain groups of people are for, as you said, changing everyone's views of our country and trying to make people believe that this is what the founding fathers wanted. They always forget to mention Amendment I, ratified December 15, 1791...Congress shall make NO LAW...
I just get the feeling that they're trying to push something into law that shouldn't be. I'm very proud to be a Christian, and puzzled at what some people are thinking.
The greatness of our country is founded on the fact that we have freedom to worship in whatever way we want. There are countless places around the world that don't have this freedom. I'm terrified of becoming one of these places. I'm terrified of, and I hope this isn't ridiculous, becoming the Germany of the 1930s. Have you read Pastor Niemoller's poem? The groups he lists that were targeted, one by one, sound so familiar to the group that the extreme right are targeting today.
Sorry for the long comment, this is just an issue that really hits a chord with me. Where is everyone's common sense? You can't hold a public school meeting and pray to Jesus. How would I would I feel, as a Christian, being in the same meeting and having the opening prayer to Buddha? I would feel extremely uncomfortable as my religion forbids me to pray to other gods...I would feel like something was being forced down my throat...I would feel like it was AGAINST THE LAW.
I'm so glad you submitted that letter. I wish I was as articulate as you. I don't really believe that this is a minority opinion...I just think that if it doesn't concern them directly, most people will tune it out.
You sometimes express my thoughts so eloquently that I may soon be able to stop thinking altogether.
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