Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 10, 1993 TAG: 9301080166
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
CHRISTIANS FIGHT BACK AS CULTURE ATTACKED
Christians in the New River Valley are people in pain and they are fighting back. "Why," people are asking, "is there so much social upheaval simply because the Montgomery County School Board removed the terms `Christmas break' and `Easter break' from school calendars?"Well, it just isn't that simple.
Christians are fighting back because they are watching the systematic dismantling of the valley's founding and oldest culture: Christianity. No one is being told that she or he cannot be a Christian at home or in the church; at least not yet.
For now, adults still have the constitutional right of "the free exercise" of religion. But not children. Christianity it appears, is being banished from the world of the child.
The current conflicts in Virginia counties such as Montgomery and Pulaski are, in effect, test cases to see whether there are any exceptions to the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment guarantees of assembly, press, religion and speech.
For, since the U.S. Supreme Court bowed to pressure from Madelyn Murray O'Hare and other anti-Christians, classroom prayer and Bible reading have been banned. Traditional baccalaureate services have been banned. Prayers before sporting events have been banned. And now, what has seemed to be a last vestige of Judeo-Christian majority culture in this valley has essentially been banned.
Many Christians feel betrayed by their school boards. In addition, they find themselves portrayed in the media as villains who "lack tolerance."
There is a perception within the Christian community that the basic human rights and the constitutional rights of children are being violated by recent school board decisions and that the gradual elimination of Christianity as a major cultural and social influence by such decisions constitutes a series of "culture attacks" directed at kids.
Some feel that there exists an anti-Christian community, composed of a self-anointed "cultural elite."
Christians here also are aware that school boards are sending children the message that there is something wrong with being Christian. Further, that Christianity is an undesirable culture; unfit for public consumption, something to be ashamed of and so undesirable as a lifestyle as to be worthy only of being banned. This message is creating resentment against the various school boards. Recent board decisions have been horrible public relations gestures, which have generated increased levels of budget anger. This anger, in turn, is sure to haunt school boards at budget time.
The question is asked, "Will the state form the world view of my child, or will I? Will the state raise my child, or will I?"
Tolerance is not the issue here. If tolerance were really at issue, then school districts would tolerate the Christian culture of our kids. After all, we have not infringed upon the rights of any other religions nor have we sought to toss any other culture from schools. The real issue here is the elimination of Christianity as a cultural and social influence.\ Jim Price\ Blacksburg