ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 8, 1996 TAG: 9608080009
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
I WANT to commend the July 30 lead editorial titled ``Still messing with school prayer.''
When I was a student in the public schools of Oklahoma in the first quarter of this century, religious services were an integral part of the school day.
We then lived in a society that was predominantly white, Protestant, Anglo-Saxon. While there were denominational differences, there was sufficient consensus to support Bible reading, prayer, and the religious celebration of such festivals as Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter in the public schools.
Now we live in a multiracial, multicultural society with a large, vocal, nonreligious minority in which there is no longer a consensus that supports the kind of religious observance in public schools that I once knew. And Supreme Court decisions reflect that change.
As I understand it, the Supreme Court ruling simply forbids government, which includes public-school administration, to sponsor religious observances in the public schools. Students are given a rather wide range in which to express their religious beliefs.
Personally, and ideally, I think religious faith ought to be an integral part of the educational experience. But in the kind of society we have become, that is no longer possible as a function of government. Parents and churches have to become more involved in the total educational experience of their children.
I agree with you that the Christian Coalition isn't dealing with issues of faith, but of politics. I hope Rep. Bob Goodlatte reads your editorial and is guided by its good sense.
WALTER M. LOCKETT JR.
Retired minister
United Methodist Church
ROANOKE
Let's strengthen our spiritual bond
THE 1996 Summer Olympics has been a wonderful demonstration of international cooperation. Unfortunately, there's a shadow over the world that dims the joy and excitement of these games.
The crash of the TWA flight outside of New York, the bomb at the Olympics concert, church burnings, recent bombings of buildings, buses and public areas, and other continuing acts of violence and hate are all symptoms of this shadow we've created.
Our human intellect has accomplished much that we can take pride in. But for every accomplishment and solution our intellect proposes, our human egos create new problems and barriers to our progress. My fellow humans, do you see what kind of world we're creating for our children? We will not solve our differences, prejudices and fears or fulfill our search for justice through more laws, prisons, weapons, security measures or armies.
A global change of attitude is needed. We are not just humans! Our humanity is a temporary experience. The essence of each of us is spirit, noncorporeal, not bound by time, space or death. And regardless of the names we give our creator or the traditions and practices by which we honor that creator, we're all children of the same God. Our human diversity should be a wonderful resource, but our spiritual identity is our bond.
Our human egos keep us in slavery to fear, suspicion, greed, envy, hate and lust for power. We must make a conscious effort to stop responding mechanically to the grumblings of our human egos and listen with an open heart. We're all spiritual beings experiencing this world together. The answers to our challenges are a wonderful potential within us.
PENNY BEST
BEDFORD COUNTY
Mobile homes are unfairly shunned
REGARDING the July 29 ``& Now This'' column headlined ``Why it is called travel trailer'' by Christina Nuckols:
I was truly stunned. She wrote that Bent Mountain residents don't want mobile-home residents as neighbors. What a shame!
My husband and I live in a mobile home that's clean both inside and out. We're hard-working, honest people who don't live beyond our means just to keep up with our neighbors. We're working to pay for this investment ourselves - it wasn't handed down through our families. I would put my home (yes, it's a home and not just a dwelling) up against any home in the Bent Mountain area.
Maybe people who live in glass houses shouldn't be the first to judge and throw stones.
ELLEN B. REED
NEW CASTLE
LENGTH: Medium: 84 linesby CNB