Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 11, 1994 TAG: 9412120062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long
If supporters of a school-prayer amendment were looking for a friendly academic fortress, the university that religious broadcaster Pat Robertson founded would seem a good choice.
Robertson, through his American Center for Law and Justice, is championing school prayer nationwide, supporting court cases on behalf of high school students seeking graduation prayers or allowing Bible club meetings in public schools.
But even on a campus where ``God bless you'' is a standard greeting instead of the answer to a sneeze, the idea of a school-prayer amendment to the U.S. Constitution has its critics.
``You can't open that door just for Christians to walk through,'' said Wally Cox, an education professor at Robertson's Regent University. ``All citizens have to have the same rights.''
Cox has written a yet-unpublished paper that argues ``the difficulty, if not impossibility, of having biblically appropriate practices in a pluralistic public school establishment.''
Or, as Cox said in an interview, ``I think people would have a hard time if the Church of Satan is allowed to offer prayers in schools.''
The U.S. Supreme Court banned organized school prayers in 1962. Since then, several attempts have been made to get a constitutional amendment reversing that decision, but none has succeeded in Congress.
It probably won't make it this time, either, said Robert Alley, a religion professor at the University of Richmond and an opponent of the school-prayer amendment.
With a new Republican majority going to Congress in January and backing for the amendment by House Speaker-elect Newt Gingrich, supporters see a chance of getting the proposal to state legislatures for ratification.
But Alley said he doesn't believe the issue has the necessary two-thirds support in the Senate.
``I am convinced that there are 34 senators who will vote against it,'' he said.
Alley, who wrote a book this year on the subject and has joined a group of clergymen from mainstream religious denominations to oppose an amendment, said school-prayer backers are using it to disguise their real goal. That, he said, is to undermine support for public schools.
Amendment proponents have portrayed schools without prayer as schools without values, and they blame teachers for discipline problems and increased violence, Alley said.
``But they don't give a rip about public schools. They hope to use this as a wedge to get vouchers for their own schools. That's the motive,'' he said.
In his 10-page paper, Cox took up the issue of public school funding and how it supports the teaching of some beliefs, such as evolution, that are contrary to Christian views.
``This must be changed so that either all or no schools receive tax-dollar support,'' he wrote. ``... This issue of discriminatory tax-money distribution may be a far more central pursuit than the school-prayer amendment.''
On Friday, Alley's group, the Virginia Coalition for Religious Freedom, urged Attorney General Jim Gilmore and the state Board of Education to move carefully when looking at school prayer.
Gilmore's office is preparing recommendations for religious expression guidelines in state schools that will be the basis of what the Board of Education considers at its Jan.12 meeting. The board, under orders from the General Assembly, is expected to adopt guidelines in March.
Robertson's university, meantime, will serve as host of a community meeting Wednesday night on what role public schools should have in teaching values, who should teach them and what values should be taught.
Cox acknowledged he hasn't discussed his views with Robertson, the university's chancellor, or tried to get other professors behind his opposition to the amendment.
Robertson, who also founded the Christian Broadcasting Network, hasn't addressed the amendment specifically, said his spokesman, Gene Kapp.
But Jay Sekulow, head of the American Center for Law and Justice, is working with members of Congress to draft the amendment so that it protects what the organization views as a free-speech right.
``The [center's] position has always been that student-initiated prayer is constitutionally protected free speech,'' Kapp said. Sekulow ``wants the language [of the amendment] to reflect very specifically the reference to students and student-initiated prayer.''
The center opposes mandatory, state-sponsored prayer in schools, Kapp said.
``We're not asking that students of faith get special rights,'' he said. ``We want them to be able to enjoy the same free-speech rights that other students enjoy.''
But Cox said an amendment would have difficulty passing a crucial test for Christians - the Golden Rule.
If ``do unto others'' means anything, he said, it means giving others the same rights you have, and parents don't want the prayers of just any religion uttered before their children.
``At first glance, most Christians would probably respond positively to a prayer amendment, sort of knee-jerk. But I think the inherent problem of one prayer or opening it to all denominations will shoot it down.''
by CNB