God not in America or Schools

[TAZ]

I received this email today and thought I would share it with everyone.

Written by a 15 yr old school kid in Ohio: Since the Pledge of Allegiance & the Lord's Prayer are not allowed in schools anymore, Because the word "God" is mentioned...

NEW School prayer :

Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.
If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.
Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise..
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.
For praying in a public hall
might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.
We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong.
We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.
It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess..
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen

[swampfox]

TAZ posted this same thing in the Marion County schools thread. This is the response that I wrote there. It's the same in both places.


That's really very misleading.

For one thing, prayers can be said privately, either aloud or silently, as long as they do not disrupt instruction. There is no law that prevents it. Neither is there a law against discussing the Ten Commandments or anything in the Bible as long as it is not presented as a religious service and do not infringe on instruction time. But even religious services are not forbidden as long as they are not during class time.

When I was teaching biology I always started the chapter on evolution by comparing what the textbook presented with the first page of Genesis. My belief, and my contention, is that there is no conflict. They both tell the same story in different ways. I have never understood how some people believe that God could create the heavens and the earth and everything in and on them, but that he could not have set in motion the processes described by scientists, which, by the way, are altogether beautiful once you understand them. There is in fact a major movement right now, unreported by regular journalists, to reconcile scientific and spiritual matters. The movement includes Nobel Prize winners and the Dalai Lama, as well as many many Christians. But these are the Christians that do not call themselves the "religious right", so the "religious right" does not count them. I can recommend some very good writing on this subject if you're interested.

During the last few years that I taught we had lunchtime meetings, in a classroom, led by youth ministers from a local church and by teachers. We did provide pizza, and I know that some students came just for that, but the majority of them were sincere in their searching and the practicing of their faith. There was nothing illegal about it. The people who say that things like this don't happen or can't happen are simply not telling the truth and I suspect that many of them know that they are not telling the truth.

What there is not anymore is the formal prayer that once started off the school day, led by somebody over the school speaker system. And I'm sure that not all schools are the same, that some are more accepting than others. But in my experience the crackdown on religion that some people would have you believe simply did not exist.

It's just that it cannot take up class time. I don't know about you, but I can say a prayer without anybody even knowing it. I don't need anybody's approval or permission. I can do it in ten seconds between classes. When I have more time I can devote more time to it if I choose. This is just another hate tactic being put out by the haters who seem to hate anything that there is any possibility of hating. I would hope that not many Christians are among the haters, but unfortunately I know that there are many who see no conflict between hating and being a Christian, and THAT is perverted.

The "religious right" is a contradiction in terms.

[Sarge]

Well said Swampy.

[Cowboy]

Very well said SF. Do those that complain also want a Satanic prayer said? That would be religious freedom also.

[swampfox]

Well, they can say it, and they can meet the same way we did. Of course certain practices might have to be approved. They wouldn't have to have their meetings in a classroom. They could all sit out on the lawn and meet during lunchtime. But I think that they like to meet at night anyway.

But you know, what most kids today think of as "Satanism" has very little history behind it. The so-called "Satanic Bible" was written around 1900 by a guy who was only seeking to promote himself, much in the same way as some media idiots do today. If they had had radio back then, this guy would have been on it. And there have been a number of rock bands who pretended to be Satanists (KISS, for example), but it was just a show. Unfortunately some people took it seriously. (See the movie Spinal Tap for a great satire of this.) In fact in all of history there is little evidence of actual Satan worship. It was something that the Church used against people, torturing them until they admitted to worshipping Satan and being witches. Unlike what many would have you believe, if you're tortured long enough and skillfully enough you will say anything. There was a crooked Pope, along with a very nasty French king, in the early 1300s who did this to the Knights Templar just to have an excuse to execute them. The king just wanted to get his hands on the Templars' legendary treasure, but once the Templars that could be caught were dead he found that their treasury was empty. Nothing left. Both the king and the pope were dead within a year.

And before anybody starts blaming anything on the Catholics, remember that our Puritan/Pilgrim ancestors did the exact same thing in Salem, Massachusetts back in the 1600s. Just as barbaric and cruel. They tortured and killed people for no reason. Once you were accused there was really no way to save yourself. One more reason why we should be wary of how we use words today.

Many people confuse Satanism with the pre-Christian religions of Europe, like the Druids. If they worshipped anything it was Nature, which to me is just another way of worshipping God who created it. It was from the Druid records that the early 1900s "Satanist" guy got a lot of his material, but he changed it to suit his own purposes.

In our school meetings we didn't even have communion or anything. Just good words, a prayer, and pizza.