Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 31, 1992 TAG: 9201310447
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
UNCOMPREHENDING OF RELIGION'S ROLE
LEW SHECKLER, candidate for the Republican 9th District congressional nomination, is indeed forthright in his support for school prayer. But Richard Godfrey, in his letter of Jan. 21, perhaps unwittingly betrayed the hidden motives of those who would banish all manifestations of religion from the public square.The sneering tone, the suggestion that those weak-minded enough to call upon their Lord are incapable of praying and chewing gum simultaneously, the implication that tyrants such as the Ayatollah Khomeini are the natural concomitant of societies that pray - all these suggest a fundamental incomprehension of the role religion plays in the lives of normal people.
They also suggest that Mr. Godfrey and those like him seriously misunderstand the theory and practice of democratic governance as well as the U.S. Constitution. As Father Richard John Neuhaus remarks in the current issue of First Things, the First Amendment's no-establishment clause is "entirely and without remainder in the service of free exercise."
The fact is that it's Dr. Sheckler and not Mr. Godfrey - and certainly not the soon-to-be ex-congressman Rick Boucher - who understands religion's role in public life as did the founding fathers. One need only consult the history books to discover that the founders were entirely comfortable with school prayer, and indeed would have regarded attempts to banish it as a bizarre symptom of a disintegrating society.
Survey after survey demonstrate not only that America is overwhelmingly a religious society but that Americans want prayer in their public schools. It's Mr. Godfrey's privilege, of course, to feel contemptuous of the great majority of his fellow Americans. But we'll keep praying for him no matter what - and we'll be voting for Lew Sheckler. MARY PACE WILLIAMSON FLOYD