THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 29, 1995 TAG: 9501290056
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
Jennifer Glenn's spiritual life begins with questions. Big questions:
``Is there heaven and hell?''
``In the Bible, why can men have so many wives and women couldn't have many husbands?''
``How do you explain the Immaculate Conception?''
Glenn, 14, doesn't expect a pat answer. But she wants her pastor to talk about it. In that search, she's been sorely disappointed.
``They usually answer you with all this pro-God talk,'' she said. ``I thought if they knew these things, they could teach you.''
Glenn and her family used to attend a Baptist church regularly, but lately their attendance has slowed. Instead, they read the Bible at home and talk about their questions, and how the stories relate to their lives.
Glenn's mother, Dorothy, remembers that in her youth, she asked as many questions as her daughter - but was told by adults in the congregation that her questions were dangerous.
Now, she encourages her children's inquiries, even if she can't offer conclusive answers. ``I don't think God gets angry with you for wanting to know,'' she said.
Glenn, an eighth-grader at Landstown Middle School in Virginia Beach, is curious about other faiths, especially Islam. She thinks that years ago, when towns were more homogeneous, prayer in school might have been a good idea.
Given the diversity of faiths at her school, she thinks that a group prayer would run contrary to many students' beliefs. Some would be too scared to protest, and those who might remain silent or leave the room during a prayer would get picked on, she said.
``By saying such-and-such is a different religion from all of us, that student will feel like a social outcast,'' she said. ``That person will be scarred for life.''
- Esther Diskin David Weiden: Jewish teen vigorously opposes school prayer
Last summer, David Weiden felt the sting of anti-Semitism.
The 18-year-old was visiting Poland with a bunch of Jewish teens. One day, some of the boys wore yarmulkes to express their Jewish pride, and a group of Poles threw rocks at them.
``It made me appreciate the comfort I have here,'' he said. ``If I wanted to, I could go out and wear a yarmulke in public. I might get some strange looks, but I could do it.''
Weiden has always felt a deep connection to Judaism, though he admits that ``it's been awhile'' since he's been to temple. ``I don't think it's important to go to synagogue to be a good Jew,'' said the senior at Kempsville High School in Virginia Beach. ``You have to be in touch with your Jewish identity and perform mitzvot,'' which means good deeds in Hebrew.
Weiden accomplishes both as president of a local teen B'nai B'rith chapter, which has raised hundreds of dollars for soup kitchens and the International Service Fund.
The 18-year-old has had few brushes with anti-Semitism here, but twice he's felt that teachers overstepped their bounds. At Kempsville High, during a discussion on the Salem witch trials, a teacher used the New Testament to declare witchcraft wrong. And when he was at Kempsville Middle, a teacher played Christmas music in the background while kids were taking a math test.
Both times he went to the principal. But he knows not everyone is as outspoken as he is, and that's why Weiden vigorously opposes school prayer: ``My little sister's in seventh grade, and my biggest fear is that she's going to have to deal with the Christian Coalition, Jews for Jesus, all these people
- Philip Walzer Raegan Williams: It's not worth doing if it offends
Before every swim meet, Raegan Williams and her teammates gather in a circle, pile their hands in the middle, and recite the Lord's Prayer. For Williams, a senior at Maury High in Norfolk, the pregame devotion isn't tied to religion.
```I sit and think about what I need to do,'' she said. ``It's become ceremonial.''
It's been a tradition for years, so she was surprised when a teammate privately told her that the prayer made her uncomfortable. Williams suggested a talk with the coach, but her friend didn't want to raise a fuss. Eventually, she left the team, Williams said, for reasons other than the prayer.
But Williams still worries. ``It made me think, if she feels alienated, maybe there is someone else,'' she said. If a group prayer ``offends one person, it's not worth doing.''
Her parents encouraged her to experience organized religion in churches across the spiritual rainbow, from Catholicism to Buddhism. The preaching and the formality of church worship didn't move her.
But a few years ago, she went with her mother to Light of Truth Universal Shrine in Yogaville, near Charlottesville. As she sat inside the dome, gazing at the people kneeling and meditating in silence around her, she ``opened up.''
``It was based on your self, your soul, self-motivation thing, as opposed to someone preaching at you,'' she said.
She hasn't gone back, but she finds moments for contemplation during the day. Sometimes, while she's playing computer games or swimming laps, her mind wanders. She thinks about friends, family, college plans, and gets a new sense of purpose.
``I totally get into a groove,'' she said. ``When you pray, you get a better inner awareness. And so, to me, prayer is any time that I'm feeling that I need a little uplift in my self-confidence.''
- Esther Diskin MEMO: [For related stories, see pages A1 and A7 for this date.]
ILLUSTRATION: TAMARA VONINSKI/Staff
KEYWORDS: PRAYER PUBLIC SCHOOLS EDUCATION by CNB