A Comrade at Arms: Religion in General is Being Attacked in This Country

Something that stands in American society today as one of the largest debates since the early 1900's is the subject of prayer in schools and whether it should or should not be mandatory, optional, or even allowed at all. It's been a hot issue of debate since before and after Madalyn Murray filed a lawsuit against the school district of Baltimore, Maryland because she believed it to be unconstitutional for her son to have to take part in the Bible readings at the public school that he attended. The suit reached the United States Supreme Court in 1963 and ended up effectively banning prayer or religious ritual in public schools. Ever since then the issue has come up in the court system of the United States and has been the subject of skirmishes between political candidates the country over.

It was banned in essence because of the heavy influence of Christianity in schools, because this is and has been a nation with a predominantly Christian population. Children were chided and were ostracized if they did not go along with what the teacher had planned in the way of either prayer or the reading of Bible verses before, during, or after class. It was found in Abington School District v. Schempp that:

The reading of the verses, even without comment, possesses a devotional and religious character and constitutes in effect a religious observance. The devotional and religious nature of the morning exercises is made all the more apparent by the fact that the Bible reading is followed immediately by a recital in unison by the pupils of the Lord's Prayer. The fact that some pupils, or theoretically all pupils, might be excused from attendance at the exercises does not mitigate the obligatory nature of the ceremony for . . . Section 1516 . . . unequivocally requires the exercises to be held every school day in every school in the Commonwealth. The exercises are held in the school buildings and perforce are conducted by and under the authority of the local school authorities and during school sessions. Since the statute requires the reading of the 'Holy Bible,' a Christian document, the practice . . . prefers the Christian religion. The record demonstrates that it was the intention of . . . the Commonwealth . . . to introduce a religious ceremony into the public schools of the Commonwealth. (201 F. Supp., at 819; quoted in 374 U.S. 203 (1963))

Ever since then it has been viewed mainly as a strictly Christian and atheist issue. What I do not understand is why this is so. Christian people are not the only ones who have a god or "gods". In banning prayer from schools, the government has also made it not possible for people of other religions such as Buddhism and Islam to be able to practice their religions at all while they are at their public school. Are there so many atheists in this country that they outnumber those of us who have a religion? I would say that there is not. In many cases where it comes down to a majority versus minority issue, I tend to side with the minority, however in this particular instance I must side with the larger group.

Religion in general is being attacked in this country and I believe that you can throw the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and its subsequent amendments at the issue all you like, but the fact of the matter is that those arguments do not "hold water", so to speak. The founding fathers of this country spoke on the issue of separation between church and state, but at the same time allowed laws to be written that ostracized those who did not believe the same as the majority, which was in a Christian god.

The promotion of a specific religion over another one is what should be banned in this country. Allow prayer and allow the display of religion at public schools, but do not make it specific to any particular religion, even if the students of the school are from generally the same religious background, as the Mormons are very common in Utah. The majority of the people in the world have some form of religion and it seems that the only people fighting hard against prayer in schools (and other government institutions, such as the court system, where the ten commandments of Moses have had to be removed repeatedly from court houses who refuse to take them down) is atheists. Contrary to what they would have you believe, there is nothing wrong with a student leading a prayer at a flagpole in the morning before official school time begins for those who choose to attend and there is certainly nothing wrong with a "moment of silence" after morning school announcements.

They argue that even a simple moment of silence should not be allowed because they believe it to be an attempt by Christian fundamentalists to establish a legal precedent that will eventually lead to mandatory and open prayer in schools. They go on to say on their website that it's a waste of time that could be used for teaching instead of "meditation or prayer". Is ten to twenty seconds spent in silence really taking anything away from the teaching environment? Does it take away so much that it should not be allowed at all? To whom does this small blip of reserved time do harm? No one and yet the American Atheists would have you believe that anything resembling prayer, this small moment included, should be considered the root of all evil.

Since the majority of the people in this country and the world have some form of religion, what is the harm in offering a moment of silence or a generic prayer that's non-offensive to all religious groups? What are atheists so afraid of? Are they afraid that this would try and instill a belief in a higher existence and purpose than themselves? If this is the case, why should they fear this? They have the freedom to not believe in anything just as we have the freedom to believe in something. No one is forcing them to believe in anything, but no prayer in schools denies the existence of religion altogether and the very idea itself flies directly in the face of the freedom of it. To grant a moment of silence every morning gives those who believe or do not believe in any higher being than themselves is to grant them the opportunity to practice what they believe in, be it in something or nothing at all.

Religion itself is being attacked in this country by these people and it all started with the banning of prayer in the public school system. More and more injustices are committed in the name of the separation of church and state. One current event worthy of note is that eleven Christians were arrested in Pennsylvania for reading scripture on a public sidewalk (while having prior police approval) at a gay pride event. They were charged with criminal conspiracy, inciting a riot (even though no riot took place), and ethnic intimidation. Only the Christians were charged with anything having to do with the incident. What does this say about the status of freedom of religion (and of speech) in this country today?

All of this started with the banning of prayer in public schools; that much I do not think can logically be denied. Atheists, which are a minority both in this country and the rest of the world, are the only ones who seem to have a problem with prayer in public schools, even if the prayer presented does not favor any one religion over another. Atheists argue that it goes against the constitution to have prayer in schools, because it does not allow for the "establishment" of religion. While this may be and should be true for some aspects of government, it still does not hold up concerning prayer in schools. To disestablish religion as a part of society and to disallow it to be present in a social environment such as a school building is to deny the existence of religion itself and to deny the existence of religion is to deny the freedom of it.

Atheists argue that the people in this country should have freedom from religion and not simply the freedom of it. They do not want their children to be introduced to the idea that there are, "... invisible, supernatural entities which can be implored and appeased through mumbling prayers or reading from holy books" (http://www.atheists.org/publicschools/faqs.prayer.html). The idea of freedom from religion I must say is illogical and highly unwanted by most of the people in this country. There can be no complete and lasting freedom from religion and most people do not want this, anyway. A pagan mother (or any other parent who is a member of one of the millions of religious groups in the world) simply wants her son or daughter to have the same opportunity and right to pray as does a Christian child. The main problem for most people in the United States concerning prayer in public schools is that it has always been predominantly Christian. If this aspect is done away with, most people will not have a problem with having prayer in schools. Only the atheists will have anything negative to say.

What should be done? Lawsuits are constantly being filed both for and against freedom of religion in this country, but the argument for prayer in schools has and always will be on the front line until it is re-instated. In this day and age the people who want prayer in schools seem to be fighting a battle they lost over 40 years ago. They, however, are fighting the good fight, will not simply surrender or retire their beliefs because they are losing, and I am honored to call myself a fellow comrade at arms.