by Ed. Klein, Peoria, IL

We keep hearing people say that ever since prayer was taken out of the public schools the country has gone to hell in a hand-basket … and that most of our contemporary ills are a result of that. Well, let’s just take a look at the record! We had been saying prayers in our public schools …

· when racism with all its ugly implications, often including torture and lynching was a way of life for many black people.

· when anti-Semitism was considered acceptable and Jews suffered persecution and discrimination.

· when battered women received little sympathy or understanding and were routinely told by their clergymen it must be their fault and to be better wives.

· when the patriarchy, religious and otherwise, demeaned women and denied them opportunities for fulfillment in a job or career.

· when gays were discriminated against and sometimes beaten and killed and when many parents disowned gay or lesbian children and turned them out of their homes.

· when anyone suspected of being an atheist often suffered discrimination and harassment.

· when Catholic kids in public schools were frequently demeaned and harassed because of their “papist” religion.

· when Native Americans were being persecuted and killed.

· and when young children were taught by their parents to hate minorities and those who were “different.”

And all of that done so often in the name of Jesus or the name of God in what many call today a Christian nation. The fact is that most of the progress that has been made in these areas has been made since the 1960’s, after the Supreme Court banned school prayer. The logical inference to be gleaned from this is that this progress has been made, not because of school prayer, but in spite of it.

I’m surprised that the folks calling for prayers in school don’t know that students can legally pray in class or anywhere on school property as long as they aren’t disruptive. They can have Bibles in Class, wear religious emblems, and gather on school property for prayers or Bible studies. And, of course, anybody can pray silently wherever and whenever they choose.

To satisfy Jews, Muslims and Christians, including the various denominations, we’d need an innocuous prayer devoid of creedal references, Jesus, or any names referring to him: Allah, Budda and other deities or religious leaders. And let’s not even concern ourselves with atheists or free-thinkers.

The American poet, Edward Arlington Robinson summed things up very nicely when he said, “The world is a kind of spiritual kindergarten where millions of infants are trying to spell GOD with the wrong blocks.”