The other day I was listening to the radio, or perhaps I read it online, but however it came about I learned that there is currently a bill working its way through the Texas state legislature that would legalize school prayer. Now I have visited San Antonio twice, once in high school for a church youth convention and once 7 and a half years ago on my honeymoon, so its not like I have a deep connection to the state of Texas. In addition, I am fairly certain that even if the bill got passed it would soon be challenged in court and eventually overturned as unconstitutional. So, it probably makes little sense for this one guy in Indiana to write a blog about the bill.
But, let's be honest, when has my lack of a deep connection to something happening in the world ever stopped me from writing a blog about it?
A little background before we begin. I grew up in the church. From the age at least 5 I was in church on a weekly basis. From 5 to 10 it was St. Mark's Lutheran in Stubenville, Ohio, just down the street from the mall. There was Sunday School and church and while I was a little rambunctious as times (or maybe always) you could find me in the pew with my mom and sister.
At 10 we moved to West Virginia and from then until I moved away to college my Sundays and most Wednesdays were spent at Ash Ave Church of God. At Ash Ave you could find me at Sunday School and Church on Sundays and the Wednesday kids ministry for the first few years until I graduated to Sunday Night youth group. At first we lived up on the hill and then we moved into town, after the move to town you would find me in church on Sunday even if my family wasn't there.
When the time came for me to go of to college I made a rather late decision to go to Anderson University the main (of three) universities/colleges that were attached to the Church of God. While I did not set out to follow the path to ministry that is where my steps eventually took me. First to a minor in Christian Ministries and then back to Anderson for seminary. Part way through seminary I began helping out at South Meridian Church of God with their youth ministry. And when seminary ended I took up an associate pastor position at Maple Grove Church of God. After a few years there I felt the tug to senior pastor ministry and left my your pastor position. And about 2 and a quarter years ago I became the senior (and only) pastor at First Church of God in Linton.
Keep this all in mind as I type the next sentence.
I AM AGAINST SCHOOL PRAYER.
Or, more importantly I am against teacher led prayer in school.
"Why?" might seem an obvious question that is playing through the recesses of your mind right about now. It is a fair question, and it is one which I will now attempt to answer. But, before I get to the answer let me ask you a question, "Do you think that only Christians pray?" or how about another one, "Do you agree with the beliefs of every other Christian on the planet?"
It is how I answer those two questions that we will find my reasons against school prayer.
Do you think only Christians pray?
I do not. In fact I know that every faith that I know of has some form of prayer. Why does that matter? Well, I think that it first matters because not every teacher in America is a Christian. What this means is that if we institute prayer in school what is to stop Henry's English teacher, who happens to be a practicing Hindu from leading his class in a daily meditation to Vishnu? Or what stops Henry's Science teacher, who happens to be a Muslim from bringing out prayer rugs so that the class can face east and pray to Allah? Now, this is in no way a knock on people of other faiths, but I do not want Henry to be forced to pray to a religion he neither practices nor understands. In the same way I do not believe that the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, or any other religious kid in the world should be forced to pray to Jesus.
So, on the one hand I am against school prayer because I believe that each person should be able to practice, or not practice their religion however they choose or not choose to.
Now onto that second question...
Do you agree with the beliefs of every other Christian on the planet?
Once again, I do not. I have mentioned this before, but just in case you are a newcomer to this blog, or just happened to miss the blogs where I said it before, there are more than 30,000 Christian denominations. We disagree about almost any possible aspect of our religion/belief system. We have disagreements on important things and ridiculously insignificant things. We argue about worship styles and the number of sacraments. We argue about whether or not there are a literal seven days of creation. We argue about the importance of the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures, and about the importance of the Pauline letters, or even which ones were written by Paul. We argue about the meaning of Revelation. We argue about when Jesus was born or when he died or whether or not he was God or God's son or the most important Prophet.
Again, why does this matter? Well it matters because I do not want Henry to have to be led in prayer by someone who believes that women should keep their mouths shut in the church. I also don't want Henry to be forced to pray to someone who prays about predestination (the people who get saved are predestined to be saved and vice versa) or transubstantiation (the elements of communion mystically become the actual blood and flesh of Jesus). I do not want Henry to be led in prayer by someone who loves Jesus and hates his fellow man. I do not want Henry to be led in prayer by someone who believes that the only true Bible is the King James Version.
On another hand I am against school prayer because I do not know the theological views of Henry's future teachers, nor do I know the views of the people who are going to be policing the prayers of these teachers.
[Incidentally this is the same reason why Henry will probably never go to a private Christian school unless he chooses to go to one for college]
One final reason
And, like the bold heading states, I have one more reason. I believe that it is the duty of Mary and I to have the responsibility of helping Henry along in his faith. And if I am completely honest there is going to be enough theological corrections down the road without having to add school prayer.
I will encourage Henry to pray in school. I will tell him that whenever he needs to he can close his eyes for a second and say a short prayer to God. Or I will tell him that he can keep his eyes open and still say a prayer. He doesn't have to announce it or lead a class prayer, because the God who sees in secret will see his secret prayer.
I believe in prayer, just not in teacher led school prayer.
Peace and Love,
Pastor K
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