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Stance should be taken on school prayer

Published 12:02am Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Politeness dictates it’s wise to avoid public discussions on religion. The nearly inevitable challenges imposed when one person’s beliefs entangle with another set of differing beliefs are bound to cause conflict.

No place is that more true than the United States of America.

We consider ourselves to be the land of the free and home of the brave, yet we’re often scared to discuss how we might retain our country’s religious roots without simultaneously compromising religious freedom as well.

Based on a series of questionable court decisions, the official federal stance is that religion has no place in our schools.

The federal government doesn’t know what to think about religion so as a result we politely just avoid the discussion until someone makes a big deal out of it.

Fortunately, the majority of Mississippians are quite comfortable talking religion and perfectly happy to fight over what they feel is true and correct.

The latter will probably be needed if either of two bills up for consideration in the Mississippi Legislature becomes law. Both bills take on the issue of religious freedom. Some supporters say the bills opens the door for prayer in public schools.

We’ve long supported allowing local school districts the option of allowing school prayer, but the issue is so murky given the federal courts’ stance that most folks choose not to discuss the matter.

Bill authors say their intent isn’t to circumvent federal law but to simply clarify what is and isn’t legally able to be discussed in schools

We hope lawmakers give strong consideration to them, and then we hope the state will aggressively defend it in federal court when necessary.

 

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  • http://twitter.com/TwstdFishy ȘƱƸ

    I, for one, agree that religion has no place in public schools. It may amaze some people to know that there are Mississipians who are not Christian – of other faiths, or no faith. In this country, they have just as much right as Christian parents to raise their children in accordance with their own beliefs. In actuality, I think that most people simply don’t care about the rights of the minority. However, that is not the country that our ancestors fought & died for.

  • Anonymous

    The issue is not murky. No religion in schools. These politicians are just yanking everyone’s chain, trying to make the separation between church and state murky so they can get votes without doing something really constructive for our state. This is settled law. Focus on the best education for all of the children in the poorest state without jamming religion down their throats.

  • http://www.facebook.com/george.marshall.35 George Marshall

    As bellsouth1 noted and as I have addressed in a forthcoming letter to the Democrat, the question of prayer in public schools is not “murky.” Federal guidelines are quite clear as defined by the U.S. Department of Education guidelines on school prayer. No student is prevented from praying in the schools. Students can bring religious literature to school, form religious clubs and engage in other religious activities. There are limits because of the constraints of separation of church and state. Schools can not inculcate religion or give official approval or sanction of it. That would be particularly egregious in the school setting because students are a captive audience.

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