Tuesday, August 08, 2006

You Can Pray in School

I am so disappointed when kids are told that they are not allowed to pray in school. You would think that they would be told this by liberal lawyers, members of the ACLU, or atheists. It is surprising, though, that children are often told this by ultra-conservative youth leaders and pastors, the ones that actually support prayer in school. I don't know where they get the idea that it is illegal for a student to independently pray in a public school. Throughout my life, I have always been told by my pastors and youth leaders that I was not allowed to pray in school (that's kind of ironic, isn't it?). Granted, though, teachers are not allowed to force students to pray nor are they allowed to initiate prayer in the classroom; students are also not allowed to disrupt class or threaten others through prayer. This does not mean that students can't pray on their own. When I was still in public school, I prayed all the time, and many others did the same thing; we were never stopped. In fact if we were stopped, we would have a good case for a lawsuit considering they would be infringing upon our First Amendment right: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Sometimes I think the worst enemies of prayer in school are the very people that support it. If they keep telling students that prayer is not allowed, it will of course disappear from public schools. I know that many Christians are upset that teachers are no longer allowed to start class time with prayer, but that is no excuse to keep telling children that they can't pray at all. Encourage your children to pray privately and invite fellow students to join them. We cannot change that school systems cannot endorse prayer, but we can make great change in our public schools by encouraging children to pray and spread the Word themselves. I think many Christians want the government to do their dirty work; they want the government to do soul-winning for them. Prayer is allowed in school, and parents and pastors should be an encouragement to Christian students instead of a hindrance.

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