I oppose organized public prayer, but I am a coward

ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” story. It is an editorial by the editor.

It has been almost 57 years since one of the most contentious Supreme Court decisions in U.S. history was made — The one that outlawed prayers in public schools under certain circumstances.

Since then, a battle has raged over “removal of God” from public schools and it has led to creation and spread of private religious schools. Yet, there is much misinformation being passed around routinely.

According to the Freedom Forum, when answering the questions of whether prayer is allowed in schools:

“Yes. Contrary to popular myth, the Supreme Court has never outlawed ‘prayer in schools.’ Students are free to pray alone or in groups, as long as such prayers are not disruptive and do not infringe upon the rights of others. But this right ‘to engage in voluntary prayer does not include the right to have a captive audience listen or to compel other students to participate.’

“What the Supreme Court has repeatedly struck down are state-sponsored or state-organized prayers in public schools.

“The Supreme Court has made clear that prayers organized or sponsored by a public school — even when delivered by a student — violate the First Amendment, whether in a classroom, over the public address system, at a graduation exercise, or even at a high school football game.”

Before the start of the district semifinal basketball game last week at Martin High School, members of the two teams, Martin and West Michigan Lutheran, huddled at half court and prayer was offered in a manner that everyone present could hear and the crowd fell silent. I submit this was done in violation of that Supreme Court ruling.

Separation of church and state that is supposed to be the law of the land often is violated, but I personally don’t have the courage to cry foul or turn anybody in. In Hastings there is a Nativity scene at the Barry County courthouse during every Christmas season and Leighton Township Board meetings every month are opened by prayer, led by the supervisor.

My position on all three of these situations is to show good manners and not raise a stink. But the day may come when somebody will, and if it goes to court, the public prayer practitioners will lose. It’s the law.

It’s fairly routine for football teams to gather teammates after the game to pray together, which would fit in to not being disruptive. And basketball teams, particularly from private religious schools, pray together in front of their bench.

But someone leading prayer for everyone in the gym or with a public address system on the football field violates the 57-year-old ruling.

Furthermore, it seems to violate what Jesus Himself was reported to have said in the New Testament (Matthew 6:5-8):

“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”

I often observe Facebook postings that ask readers to support bringing prayer back into the schools. I often respond that any student who wants to pray cannot be stopped. And I submit plenty of students pray before a test or before they eat lunch without any interference. It’s when someone insists on saying the prayer for everyone that trouble surfaces. That can be construed as coercion about what to pray and for what.

Prayer warriors insist the U.S. Constitution does not forbid the practice and they assert that the Founding Fathers were Christians, which means we are a Christian nation. However, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson all have been quoted as saying this country is not Christian, but of many faiths.

It was Jefferson, in his letter to the Danbury Baptists, who coined the phrase “Separation of Church and State.” And since then, the Supreme Court, which is charged with interpreting the Constitution, has ruled you cannot force someone else to pray your prayer.

Former State Rep. Michael Callton, a Republican, told me when he was chairman of the Barry County Board of Commissioners that he was uncomfortable with the common references to Jesus in the invocations before board meetings because he is Jewish, so he felt his civil rights were being infringed.

When public prayer is offered, I too am uncomfortable, especially when someone is dictating what is being prayed for and to whom the prayer is spoken. I won’t even say “Under God” during the Pledge of Allegiance, opting instead to say the Pledge as it was originally written. The two extra words were added by a Joe McCarthy-era paranoid Congress in 1954.

I sincerely believe everyone has a right to pray and that “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion (First Amendment).” But no one has the right to tell someone else how and what to pray in public.