School Prayer and Christianity

Thoughts from the Middle

School Prayer and Christianity

By Robert Fischer

I had planned to write my next article on the influence of the dollar and political decisions.  However, two days ago, I received a forwarded email from a former high school classmate and friend.  The email she forwarded was a well written piece regarding the states of Maryland, Michigan and Arizona.  The author noted that these states were allowing Muslim students to prayer at school, something that the author says Christian students weren’t allowed to do.  The article went on to make claims about the Muslim prayer and prayer day in the United States.  I couldn’t let the comments go without correcting the author’s misstatements.  I wrote the following:

I’ve been concerned about the misconceptions regarding religion for a number of years.  This email confirms that truths do not always tell the full story.  First, let’s remember that our founding fathers were concerned about religious persecution.  That’s why they included “freedom of religion” in our Constitution.  We are all “free” to believe whatever we wish regarding God, creation and the universe.  As a former school board member and President, I am very familiar with the school prayer issue.  At one time I had two board members who wanted to start each board meeting with a prayer.  A third member, an ordained minister, was asked what type of prayer we should offer given the diversity of opinions in our community and the Supreme Court decision regarding prayer.  He jokingly suggested it might start with “To whom it may concern,” or “thoughts to the universe.”

In  1962, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school “sponsored” prayer was a violation of the spirit of the Constitution.  It did not make it illegal for students to pray as individuals.  Students are free to pray alone or in groups during the school day as long as it does not disrupt school activities.  As for the Maryland, Michigan, Arizona references to allowing Muslims to pray at school, while true, it is also true that Christians and others may pray or meditate.

Presidents Truman’s and Reagan’s prayer day recognized prayer, not a specific religion. Citizens are free to observe that day just as they observe others.   It is not true that Obama declared the US no longer a Christian nation (325,000,000 Americans, over 220,000,000 self-declared Christians}.  And, he did not dismiss the 21^st Annual National Day of prayer.  Whether Muslim Prayer Day was observed in Washington D.C. near the Capitol Building should not be an issue.  Obama is a Christian, not a Muslim.  Muslims may observe prayer day wherever they wish.  Obama did not take part in this event. Claims that Obama encouraged schools to teach the Quran were posted on social media in 2016, but no major/credible news source ever reported on such an event!    This type of undocumented information has no place in a civil discussion!

Our nation has an overwhelming majority of Christians.  The faith is not threatened by those who believe in other gods or no gods.  As a” recovering” Catholic, I believe that today’s Christianity is threatened by its own failure to continue to evolve.  Christianity was not a static religion.  It started with three very different approaches, James (Jewish/Jesus/works movement); Peter’s Christian/Roman church approach and Paul’s Salvation movement.  It took centuries of infighting and bloodshed for the early church to develop the theology of the Council of Nicaea.  It was centuries later that Luther and others challenged the Catholic approach.  I personally will not challenge anyone who has found peace in their belief system.  However, I don’t want them to force their opinions on me!