Bible at Recess
Engel v. Vitale was decided some time before I was born, declaring that requiring students to participate in the recitation of a non-denominational prayer at a government-owned public school violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. I personally agree with the basic principle of that decision; it is wrong to require someone to pray in a way that would violate their conscience.
As I grew, I observed that the understanding of this Supreme Court decision varied considerably, as people struggled with what it meant in terms of personal and local practice. I remember folks bewailing the 'removal of God' from our Schools. This attitude was something I didn't understand - nobody took God out of our school, because those of us who wanted Him (or Her or It or Them) brought Him/Her/It/Them with us anyway. Others insisted that Engel demanded that there be no evidence of God or religion at all in school. This seemed just as strange to me - religion was just as integral part of myself as hair-color or speech accent.
So, what I saw in our suburban Indianapolis 4th grade was Greg Bielach practicing his Hebrew Torah reading during free-reading time, and in 5th grade, our teacher inviting us daily to be silent a moment and pray if we wanted to in our hearts before going down to lunch. In rural Tennessee, our freshman year we had "Bible Lady" classes once a week during the school day in the lunchroom, where we heard Old Testament stories with a decidedly Southern Baptist spin. I often worked on my homestudy LDS Seminary assignments during class when my other work was finished. In Iowa, my high school graduation was marked by a Sunday Baccalaureate service in the school auditorium, where my Grandpa - mayor of the town and well-known as a Mormon elder - offered the invocation. From where I stand now, as a parent with four children in public school, things don't look all that different from when I grew up; there're still Christmas trees in the elementary school, and the high school audition choir sings complex and beautiful Latin masses exclaiming "Kyrie Eleison" alongside Gwyneth Walker's "Now I become Myself."
As an adherent of one of the more 'odd' religions, I think I was maybe a little more aware from childhood of these issues. It has always seemed to me that though sometimes the line on what was publicly permissible was a little fuzzy from time to time, for the most part, most people understood the Constitution to say: you have a right to believe what you believe, to practice what you believe, to be what you believe, and the government hasn't got a right (within reason) to stop you or forbid you or tell you how to believe, practice and be. Be polite, be respectful, and allow others the same freedom.
Thus it is with some perplexity that I read of strange actions like these: Bibles Banned on Playgrounds http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44223. The source of the report, of course, is decidedly slanted, so I cannot help but wonder what the other side of the story was. Nevertheless, I find myself scratching my head - what was this school principal thinking? How could the American public have gotten so mentally lazy that the abbreviated (and misquoted) phrase "Separation of Church and State" is believed to mean that there can be no religious thought or practice in public places?
As I grew, I observed that the understanding of this Supreme Court decision varied considerably, as people struggled with what it meant in terms of personal and local practice. I remember folks bewailing the 'removal of God' from our Schools. This attitude was something I didn't understand - nobody took God out of our school, because those of us who wanted Him (or Her or It or Them) brought Him/Her/It/Them with us anyway. Others insisted that Engel demanded that there be no evidence of God or religion at all in school. This seemed just as strange to me - religion was just as integral part of myself as hair-color or speech accent.
So, what I saw in our suburban Indianapolis 4th grade was Greg Bielach practicing his Hebrew Torah reading during free-reading time, and in 5th grade, our teacher inviting us daily to be silent a moment and pray if we wanted to in our hearts before going down to lunch. In rural Tennessee, our freshman year we had "Bible Lady" classes once a week during the school day in the lunchroom, where we heard Old Testament stories with a decidedly Southern Baptist spin. I often worked on my homestudy LDS Seminary assignments during class when my other work was finished. In Iowa, my high school graduation was marked by a Sunday Baccalaureate service in the school auditorium, where my Grandpa - mayor of the town and well-known as a Mormon elder - offered the invocation. From where I stand now, as a parent with four children in public school, things don't look all that different from when I grew up; there're still Christmas trees in the elementary school, and the high school audition choir sings complex and beautiful Latin masses exclaiming "Kyrie Eleison" alongside Gwyneth Walker's "Now I become Myself."
As an adherent of one of the more 'odd' religions, I think I was maybe a little more aware from childhood of these issues. It has always seemed to me that though sometimes the line on what was publicly permissible was a little fuzzy from time to time, for the most part, most people understood the Constitution to say: you have a right to believe what you believe, to practice what you believe, to be what you believe, and the government hasn't got a right (within reason) to stop you or forbid you or tell you how to believe, practice and be. Be polite, be respectful, and allow others the same freedom.
Thus it is with some perplexity that I read of strange actions like these: Bibles Banned on Playgrounds http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44223. The source of the report, of course, is decidedly slanted, so I cannot help but wonder what the other side of the story was. Nevertheless, I find myself scratching my head - what was this school principal thinking? How could the American public have gotten so mentally lazy that the abbreviated (and misquoted) phrase "Separation of Church and State" is believed to mean that there can be no religious thought or practice in public places?
Comments
BuffsLaw
Let me know if you'd like to be added to the CUBlawg collective. I can be reached at hakimshammara-cublawg@yahoo.com.
-HS