A front-page story in the Jan. 31 Monitor said, “Families ask for school training to stop suicides.” What a tragic situation. But this has been building for a very long time.
Decades ago the state of New York devised an official prayer, designed to be used in all of the public schools of that state. It created an uproar and went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court, in a very narrow ruling, declared that New York could not do that – based on part of the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” So then educators and schools across the country interpreted that broadly. They said, “Prayer is not allowed in the public schools.” And all the public schools across the country fell in line. Prayer was dropped, ruled by educators as illegal. It shouldn’t have happened.
The religious establishment clause of the First Amendment has a second vital portion, cast aside and neglected: “nor prohibit the free exercise thereof.” This neglect, this vital bypass of what is one of our basic freedoms, is at the root of the worst of our children’s problems. We have reaped a bitter harvest.
The national motto is “In God we trust.” All of our currency carries those words. But the schools are prevented from presenting that truth. One of the results is that most of the public school students are discouraged from religious faith. It often results in loss of hope. How sad.
HARVEY LORD
Bow