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From: tblake@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu (Thomas Blake)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: 1st amendment (was: religious courses in a secular school)
Message-ID: <Apr.23.03.18.56.1991.2587@athos.rutgers.edu>
Date: 23 Apr 91 07:18:58 GMT
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Organization: State University of New York at Binghamton
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Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu

In article <Apr.21.02.14.38.1991.19709@athos.rutgers.edu> jclark@sdcc6.ucsd.edu (John Clark) writes:
>And if a person got up a 'led' the gathering with 'by the Air, Wind,
>Fire, and Earth, we are assembled' you would bring down the house
>with cries of 'paganism' and 'satanism'. As long as these
>invocations are either close to your Christian beliefs or do not
>pass beyond worhtless platitudes, you comfortable. The answer is to
>eshew any religiousness rather than give support any one in a
>government sponsored gathering.

No, actually I wouldn't bring down the house.  As long as I (or my
theoretical children) were not forced to participate that's fine.  If
(for instance) my school district were in an area with a high degree of
Satan worshipers, and prayers to Satan were common at graduations and
other key assemblies then I would send my children to school elsewhere.

I think what people seem to have forgotten is that in a democracy it is
not the government on one side and the people on the other.  The
government is supposed to represent the people.  If *the people* in an
area wish prayers at their graduation services, then it is the buisiness
of the government (in it's role of representative) to see that it
happens.  If "the people" oppose Invocations at graduation, then the
government should see that such a practice is discontinued.

A school board too is a representational democracy.  The voters in a
school district elect board members who they feel will represent their
views and concerns.  If the school board is out-of-touch with the will
of the people, then they should be voted out of office.

I can understand the desire not to have imposed morning prayers at
public school.  I myself would not want to see a state-approved morning
prayer recited in unison by the students.  However, an Invocation or a
Blessing at a graduation?  It's not unisonal, and those who disagree are
quite free to (quietly) ignore the speaker.  Parents who wanted their
children to be raised free of the taint of Christianity could explain to
them that the belief in God is irrational, however, out of respect for
our fellow citizens, we allow them to practice their rituals, so long as
they do not impose their beliefs on us.

Despite all of this however, I still don't see what any of it has to do
with the Constitution of the United States.  *No law has been passed*
for or against prayers at graduations.  Until such time I don't see how
the Constitution comes into play.  I invite you to read the document
yourself.  

Additionally, as I have pointed out before, this absolute "separation of
Church and State", (a phrase I find nowhere in the Constitution by the
way), also seems contrary to the practices of our government in the
past.  (Ex. "In God We Trust" on our currency.)

						Tom Blake
						SUNY-Binghamton