Saturday, July 29, 2006

STOP Praying at School

This article in the NYT is outrageous. Because it just shows that prayer at school can breed hatred. Who knew?

You want your children to pray to Jesus? Knock yourself out. They can do it at home, they can do it at church, they can do it in the bathroom, in the park, at the Dairy Queen, in the middle of Wal-Mart, pretty much wherever they want. But not in a public school, where there may be other kids who don't believe in Jesus, or God, or prayer.
In a public school you have no right to impose your prayers on the students, even if they are all evangelical Christians. School is not a place for prayer, unless it is a private religious school.
You go to school to learn, not to pray. Why is this concept so hard to understand?
This is still a secular country, last I heard. But if we are not alarmed enough by the coercive, undemocratic, bigoted behavior of the religious right, it won't be that for long.
Religious zealots everywhere get away with murder because secular people let them. Secular people are afraid to mess with religion, as if it was some sort of taboo. It isn't. Religion is not sacred. Religion is not holy. It is something some people choose to believe. If in the name of it, others are discriminated against and harassed, I fail to see why we don't muster enough nerve to fight it. Lightning is not going to strike you if you speak out against religious coercion.

I contribute to Americans for Separation of Church and State. This is my pet cause. I consider it an urgent issue to preserve freedom of thought and democracy in America.
To save this country from the true forces of evil.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous2:08 AM

    i agree. im atheist and when people pray like that in front of me, knowing im atheist, its like me telling them god isnt real to their face. its just as offensive

    ReplyDelete