Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!princeton!njin!paul.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: math1h3@jetson.uh.edu Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: 1st amendment (was: religious courses in a secular school) Message-ID: Date: 3 May 91 07:33:46 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of Houston Lines: 55 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , merlyn@digibd.com (Merlyn LeRoy) writes: > > Suppose: > 1) ALL area schools graduated with such prayers, or > 2) You couldn't afford to send your children anywhere else, or > 3) You didn't find out until halfway through the prayer? > > I find it quite possible that all surrounding schools would > have graduation ceremonies praying to God, or even specifically > to Jesus, if this is not struck down by the courts. > > You are telling people to leave their own neighborhood public > schools (which THEY PAY FOR) if they dislike the particular religion > being pushed by the local school authorities. To a certain extent, this is what Christians are faced with all the time. The type of prayer that is usually offered at graduation ceremonies, school board meetings, etc., is usually hard to identify as Christian. I do not think that a Christian can participate in such prayer without putting his confession of faith in a questionable light. To what God is the prayer being offered? If we must have public schools, and it appears that we must, then I tend to think that if the schools are not overtly Christian (problem: what brand of Christianity? as well as the usual constitutional problems) then there must be no religion in the school. This, however, leads to schools that I would have to characterize as atheistic. So in trying to be fair and constitutional, I find myself paying for schools that now offer a rather hostile environment for Christians. (There is an unstated premise here, that religion, or its 'absence', affects a lot more in the education of a child than what we call religious teaching. It colors our view of history, science, social studies, sex education, you name it.) What I would like to see, although the current trend is in the opposite direction, is for more christian churches to provide christian schools, supported by offerings, so that middle and lower income families can afford to give their children a full-time christian education. I think that we can afford this; it is mostly a matter of priorities in our spending. Unfortunately, this abandons the tax monopoly held by the public schools to the atheists/agnostics/unbelievers. But I think this is better than accepting state funding of parochial schools, for that implies state control. Of course to the extent that Christians and others leave the public school system, that will lower our taxes (at least in theory, but don't hold your breath.) David H. Wagner DWagner@uh.edu a confessional Lutheran. [Andrew Greeley argues that long-run data shows that Catholic parochial schools are actually money-makers. I.e. that if you look at the influence they have on later membership in the church and giving levels, they are -- even in monetary terms -- a good investment. --clh]