THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 11, 1994 TAG: 9412080408
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 157 lines
If any country needs prayer, we do. Prayer gives us all discipline, reverence and concern for others, and it's what our country was founded on.
Since taking it out of schools, there is less respect for life and our country, and more murders.
Prayer helps us all realize our creator is greater than we and it helps all conduct themselves with more stability, dignity, and self-esteem.
Clarer Lawrence
Virginia Beach
I think voluntary prayer in schools will create a moral climate that will reduce teen social problems. I think our children have been denied a very important right.
E.B. West
Exmore
Years ago, from kindergarten to college, each school day was started with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. There were boundaries of moral conduct followed and taught in the schools. We did not have a great deal of teen pregnancy, children killing children, and violence was not lauded as a means to end arguments.
There was little permissiveness to tolerate and there were moral principles taught along with reading, writing and arithmetic. Students exited their school years as disciplined adults.
One atheist started all of this fuss and a liberal-left misinterpreted the Constitution and answered her minority call to delete this practice from the public schools. It never should have been abolished! Since then there has been a slow decline to self-destruction, a no-holds-barred to decay of our society.
We are a nation founded on Judeo-Christian moral principles. Let's return to acting like it! Yes, we are a melting-pot of many nationalities and we do not take away anyone's right to practice their religious beliefs. They have no right to dictate our God-given right to practice our daily prayers in our public schools with non-sectarian prayer. It can't hurt anyone, and I believe it will do much good to restore a tone for life with hope and love for one another.
Luella Smith
Virginia Beach
Bringing prayer to the schools is a small but positive step toward getting our youth back on track.
Today's society is lacking in respect, patriotism and morality. Being exposed to poverty, drugs and violence, many young people are depressed and have lost their hope and enthusiasm for life. It might help to know there is a supreme being they can turn to when they feel lost and alone.
Children need role models to teach them right from wrong. Unfortunately, we have lost Ward and June Cleaver, and today's kids are spoon-fed violence, sex and profanity on television. The networks, if they do not want censorship, should offer incentives for better programming.
We have to start somewhere, so let's start in the classroom with a few minutes of encouragement and good thoughts. Prayer is therapy and hope. We can pray for ourselves or others. We can pray together to make this a better world for our children to grow up in.
Pat DeHart
Virginia Beach
I enjoyed and was inspired reading your commentary. I want to go on record as being in favor of voluntary prayer in school. We need it badly. One only has to take a look at the newspaper to see how much we could use this.
Thelma Lane
Virginia Beach
You observe correctly when you assert that the Supreme Court decision on school prayer in 1962 was a distortion of the original intent of the U.S. Constitution. Our founding fathers sought to avoid the establishment of a national denomination. However, it was understood that we were a predominantly Christian people. We founded our laws on the principles of the King James Bible, and we put our trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Not only was there a time when we had prayer in public schools, but we used to teach from the Bible. I understand someone once raised the question, ``Do you suppose we'll ever stop teaching the Bible in schools?'' And the response was something like this, ``Of course not. Pretty soon we'd be spending a fortune trying to deal with criminals!''
We need prayer in our schools. We need prayer in our government. We need prayer in our churches. We need God's healing touch in our land.
J. Brown
Chesapeake
I don't think that prayer in the schools would hurt the moral atmosphere. Could it get any worse?
I am skeptical as to how the prayer process would be handled. Would the teacher or school official - who might be a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, agnostic, Jew, or atheist - be expected to lead or participate in the moment of prayer? Would all students, no matter what their religious backgrounds, be expected to participate?
I think that a prayer time in 1994 would be a trickier process to implement than in 1962. Our emphasis on multicultural diversity and pride in our freedom to believe as we choose makes for a challenging atmosphere.
Frankly, my husband and I chose many years ago to place our own children in Christian schools because we wanted them to have the freedom to pray and to study the Bible. We desired a safe, nurturing environment with teachers who would be models of integrity and morality and a peer group which encouraged making the correct life choices.
I have taught in both Christian and public schools and have chosen the former for my present employment so I, too, can appreciate freedom of worship that the writers of the Constitution sought to secure for us.
I appreciate the ability to pray on my job at the appropriate time when there is a need. I appreciate being able to counsel students from a biblical point of view. I wish all teachers could experience the freedoms I enjoy. I know that prayer works. Will it be allowed to work in our public schools? I don't know.
Jane G. Duffey
Norfolk
I think it is a good idea to put prayer back in public schools. I saw some information on a diagram that showed that when prayer was in public schools, shooting, killing and teen sex was very low. Immediately, the rates of violence went sky high when prayer was taken out of public school. Please put prayer back in public school.
Gary O. Catchot Jr.
I think people in public school should be allowed to pray freely. I think it may bring down the violence. I also think it might improve the image of public schools in the eyes of their critics.
Zack Young
I don't think we have anything to lose if we allow prayer in public schools. After all, it certainly wouldn't make violence and crime go up, would it?
Heather A. Elford
I believe prayer should be permitted in schools. Students should have the right to express their beliefs freely, no matter what they happen to be. The separation of church and state is some misinterpretation by a politician. The Constitution of the United States clearly states that ``Congress shall make no law . . . prohibiting the free exercise
John Gillerlain
I am a sixth-grader at Norfolk Christian School. I hope that what I am about to say will mean something to everyone.
If they would put prayer back in the public schools, crime and all the problems that have been happening would mainly decrease. God is still the one person who should be in not only these schools but everywhere upon this Earth.
I know from experience that where we can pray, there is respect and concern for both our classmates and teachers. Our school has been a place where everyone is kind and loving because our teachers have taught us all about God.
Amanda Sittig
I think prayer should be allowed in public schools. It's supposed to be a free country, even for people who want to pray. It might even make public schools better.
Chelsea Cokley
I have very strong feelings about prayer in school. I moved to a private school this year and know the violence in schools and the disorderly conduct which is in the Norfolk school system, as well as nationwide. I'm all for the student-initiated prayer bill, even if its only a small step in the right direction . . .
A little time to pray or just to sit and think would do wonders.
Tyler Gass
I am not in public school right now because I was recently accepted into a private school. I know, however, that prayer should be allowed in public schools. I have experienced the trouble in public schools, and I am all for prayer. Prayer will not cure all of the problems immediately, but it may help if you are sincere. But even if you are sincere, God will decide what happens. But, meanwhile, prayer will not be of any harm in public school.
Laura Bielek by CNB