THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 1, 1995 TAG: 9412300039
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 30 lines
When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you they have their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and close the door and pray to your Father in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
- Jesus of Nazareth, Matthew 6:5-6.
If prayer in schools improves the morals no more than it seems to in Congress, it just might be better for everyone to pray in his or her own room with the door shut.
I was the minister of the Courtland, Sycamore and Sedley Baptist churches in Southampton County, Va., from August 1939 until I went in the Army in November of 1942. The Baptists of Virginia I associated with during those years would not have supported mandatory prayer in public schools nor anywhere else.
JOHN B. ISOM
Des Moines, Iowa, Dec. 12, 1994 by CNB