Opposing School Prayer
Conservatives Who Disagree
By Daniel Muniz

Yes, there are Conservatives who oppose “school prayer” in our public school system but they do so for totally different reasons than why Liberals do. And here is my reason why I oppose it.

It never worked.

And yes, I have seen quite a few gaping mouths and that flabbergasted look whenever I mention my explanation to religious conservatives. Oftentimes, they look at me as if I have a horn sticking out of my forehead. Unfortunately, a number of Right-Wingers tend to have “selective amnesia” when it comes to history especially since there are a lot of ugly moments about religion in America.

But first I must say that I certainly agree that this country once maintained a level of religiosity that has been lost. And I do agree that there are elements in today’s society that are openly hostile to Christianity and they are the very antithesis to organized religion. These elements did not exist prior to the 1950’s or at least they did not come to full fruition until the momentous Supreme Court decision that sought to completely remove the Christian identity from our school system.

And I do agree that America of the past was indeed a haven for devout Christians but here is the qualifier.

Before prayer was removed from our public school system, this country had a tremendous Christian identity and it was a great place for worship especially for Protestants but not necessarily for anyone else. Right-Wingers tend to sound like David Duke in dismissing the terrible behavior employed by Evangelical Christians of that era. Religious conservatives admit that a few bad things did happen but they feel that it wasn’t anything horrific.

However, other groups such as Catholics say hogwash. Protestants were cruel and vindictive although as I said before, selective amnesia still runs rampant.
 

Story Continues Below ê

Today's Top Stories

● Smoking and Parenting - Activists Invade Your House ● Excused Absences - No Excuse for Missing Assignments ● Deceptive Republicans - Screwed By Your Own Party ● Drug Lord's New Strategy - Pot Farming in National Parks ● Death in the Family - The Funeral of My Aunt and Uncle ● Gringo Papers - Credit for Illegal Aliens

Yesterday's Top Stories

● Nuclear Power - Too Much Corporate Welfare ● Lights Out - Teacher Caught in Sex Act ● So Much Baloney - Politics and Stem Cell Research ● Girl Takes Life - Bad Parenting Becomes Lethal ● Illegal Alien Terror - Breakdown of Immigration Laws ● Ebonics And Tex-Mex - English By Any Other Name

Does the name of Guy Fawkes sound familiar or does the holiday of Guy Fawkes Day ring a bell?

Today the history of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up parliament in London has been placed in its proper perspective but for colonial and early America, Protestants celebrated that holiday by burning effigies of the Popes. Even General George Washington was horrified when he saw his troops honoring Guy Fawkes Day and reveling in its anti-Catholicism. Not only did the future president feel that this was undignified behavior of soldiers under his command, he was also trying to encourage Catholic France to contribute more arms, money, and troops to the American Revolution.

After the birth of this country, Guy Fawkes Day was the catalyst of Protestant suspicion that Catholics were hatching ominous plans to eventually take over the country. It was a common myth of that time that the Catholic religious order of the Jesuits was organizing a papal army in America and throughout the world for global domination under the pope.

Now does the name of Maria Monk ring a bell?

Again, Evangelical Christians look me at me with that empty blank stare. Well here is another question to refresh a few forgotten memories. What were the top three selling books of the 1800’s?

Naturally, on the top of the list is the Bible. Unsurprisingly, the next most widely circulated book was Uncle Tom’s Cabin. And the third top selling book for that entire century was the Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk.

Although Evangelical Christians deplore sexually explicit content of television shows like Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives, the Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk was nothing more than soft porn and Protestants snapped them off the shelves during the nineteenth century. Its genre was actually nothing new since it was really a type of gothic novel that was popular during that era. That is, an innocent woman steps into a castle-like place and learns its dark secrets and then must make a harrowing escape for her life. Sounds like an Anne Rice book.

But the twist is that the castle is a really convent and the dark sinister figures are Catholic priests who secretly enter the enclosures by underground tunnels from their churches. These priests then have their way with the nuns in sordid orgies. And any young nun that refuses to cooperate simply disappears and any babies that are born are then baptized and thrown into lime pits to conceal the nefarious activity.

It was really sick stuff but WASPs loved it and they really couldn’t get enough of Maria Monk. Consequently, state legislatures and city councils began to pass convent inspection laws to stop this “supposedly” depraved behavior.

Ever heard of hocus pocus? The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary provides the benign innocuous definition of:
 

hocus pocus 1. Sleight of hand. 2. Nonsense or sham especially used to cloak deception. Etymology: probably from hocus pocus, imitation Latin phrase used by jugglers. Source: M-W.com

During the 1800’s, it was also a derogatory term used to ridicule and insult the Catholic Mass and the sacrament of the Eucharist (Holy Communion). It was really a play on words since the Mass was said in Latin before Vatican II.

Guy Fawkes Day and the Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk as well as many other derogatory terms presented a very unbalanced view of Catholicism that resulted in enormous religious bigotry in America. And how bad was it?

Our public school system did have an intense Christian identity at the time. So much so that religion was taught in school. When Catholic bishops suggested that Catholic students in public schools ought to use Catholic bibles instead of Protestant ones (certain Protestant sects still suppressed the Epistle of James), the result was pandemonium. WASPs vandalized and even burned down Catholic churches in Philadelphia resulting in Bishop Kenwick fleeing his diocese.

But in an interesting side note; the bishop of New York City was a scrappy Irishman named John Hughes who refused to be intimidated by the Protestants. He stationed security guards at every Catholic Church in his diocese and then informed the press that if a single building was damaged that he could not prevent another Moscow (referring to how the Russians burned their capital to the ground when retreating from Napoleon). Not a single church was touched and consequently, Protestants began referring to this bishop as Dagger John (in reference to the cross he placed beside his signature).

Times were tough for Catholics and as well as for other religious minorities. The result was the creation of the massive Catholic school system (begun by Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton) that became the alternative to public schools. In certain cities, a Catholic child had to obtain written permission from their bishop in order to attend a public school. Naturally, Protestants lashed out against the Catholic parochial system with vicious rumors and ugly cartoons. But what is most ironic is that Evangelical Christians of today are abandoning public schools to create their own schools.

Under the Protestant ownership of the public school system, life was harsh for Catholics that were stuck in it and it was not a pretty sight. Catholics children were easy targets and they were often penalized. Father Stravinskas, editor of The Catholic Answer magazine, once explained that his own father was held back a grade because he refused to recite the Protestant version of the Lord’s Prayer. Fortunately, the twentieth century greatly weakened Evangelical Christian influence and the Supreme Court decision in the sixties removed the final vestiges of their control.

Consequently, orthodox Catholics are not exactly thrilled with their Right-Wing allies about reintroducing prayer into public schools. It took more than a century to correct the problems of Protestant ownership of the school system and school prayer just has the enormous potential for widespread abuse especially when it gets politicized.

As a Catholic, I will be the first to admit that the intentions of the people who support school prayer are good and perhaps quite worthy. And I in no way agree with the aims and the aspirations of the certain groups of Liberals who are blatantly hostile to Christianity. But the secularization of the public school system has been one of the best things that could happen to America. It allowed for the freedom of any kid to get an education without getting harassed or indoctrinated.

But even with good intentions, school prayer is not going to solve the moral problems of America. I in no way want to discount the power of prayer but if this was ever re-introduced, more than likely it will lead to the blind leading the blind or people inserting their own illicit versions of prayer that is not Christian in nature.

School prayer is simply not going to re-evangelize America. In fact, many Protestant denominations of a century ago have already lost their evangelical nature and today, religious influence has greatly waned in our culture. Perhaps it can be rekindled but not through legislation but by pounding the pavement and witnessing.

And if people do feel so strongly about having religion in schools, then they ought to opt for creating their own school system like the way Catholics did. Evangelical Christians have already started doing so which is a great thing. In addition, more religious conservatives ought to step up their support for a voucher system that gives parents the choice of where to send their kids to school. And for the most part, that has already happened but more still needs to be done.

But because of the tainted past of religion in our public schools, there is not really a way that I can support school prayer although I do agree that many of its supporters are people of goodwill if not a bit forgetful of history.
 

COMMENTS FROM READERS

Amen Brother. Prayer isn't going to work in school for all the reasons you mentioned... and then one HUGE reason you leave out. When was the last time you were in a classroom with 35 teenagers? FORCING them to pray - or even to respect 1 minute of silence isn't going to work. I think it would actually make a mockery of prayer for those students who want to pray and have to deal with immature students who are disrespectful during this time for prayer and reflection. It's unconstitutional... but let's face it, it's unrealistic. -TMD

I thought this was a thoughtful article. I thought it was rather generous to pro-school prayer people, however. I don't know if their motivations are pure. I think organized school prayer would be just a foot in the door for them to start pushing the rest of their right-wing agenda down schoolkids' throats... I don't know if I believe it's even about religion for them. Prayer was never taken out of the schools because that's impossible. People don't have to pray out loud; many people pray silently, especially students at exam time. Although I am a "liberal" more or less, I support school vouchers, only because the public school system is a disaster. -Anne

I read the article and I agree totally, EXCEPT for how it begins: "Yes, there are Conservatives who oppose “school prayer” in our public school system but they do so for totally different reasons than why Liberals do." While I would not consider myself much of a liberal, from what I've seen on the website many here undoubtedly would. Having said that, I agree with the author 100% with what he said and there are people far more left-leaning than I who would also agree. To wit: "But even with good intentions, school prayer is not going to solve the moral problems of America. I in no way want to discount the power of prayer but if this was ever re-introduced, more than likely it will lead to the blind leading the blind or people inserting their own illicit versions of prayer that is not Christian in nature." Most liberals are NOT hostile to Christianity, they are hostile to the people who use it as a political tool and ignore the FACT that our constitution allows the individual to choose their religious beliefs OR to choose to hold no religious beliefs. The constitution also says that the government shall not stick its nose in these personal beliefs or try to regulate on way or another. That would be endorsing and/or creating a religion. If I don't want to believe that the bible is the inspired word of god, (which is my right as an American under the constitution) then why the hell would I want my children to be forced into this system of beliefs via the public school system? Lack or prayer is not forcing anyone to believe anything, whereas prayer in school is presented to a captive audience of impressionable minds who are put in the care of teachers to teach them what can be observed and what is most likely true based on actually physical evidence. It's leaving them free of the issue so that their parents and communities can instruct them. That's the job of parents, not the government of the United States of America, (incidentally the greatest country on earth BECAUSE it is legally very difficult to turn our government into the Christian version of the Taliban). Metaphysical matters are best left to parents and clergy. I have lots of great Christian friends and when we talk about issues we have no problems. Poverty? Bad. Crime? Bad. Terrorism? Bad. Gay marriage? Why is it more important than the rest? I have no problems with religious beliefs because they require faith being unbelievable and I admit that perhaps there is a god and perhaps he is even the god of the bible. So what? That is not our government's function tot ell me OR teach my children. As conservatives you should be all for getting the government out of our personal business. Regulation is bad unless it's religious regulation and only then if it's protestant-friendly? Great work. I'll actually read more from this author as he seems conservative in the good way, which is a rare quality in conservatives these days. -John

We want your opinion! Tell us what you thought about this article. Click the Your Feedback menu item to send us your comments.