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By Freedom Writer:
Dennis Prager, a conservative Jewish commentator, offers answers to three common objections to school prayer. His assertions appeared in a column by Don Feder, a syndicated columnist with The Boston Herald. Prager's rejoinders are the very reason state-sponsored school prayer is unconstitutional. Objection: Children can pray any time they want. We don't need an amendment. Answer: Fans at a ball game can sing the National Anthem any time. We sing it publicly to make a patriotic statement. School prayer makes a philosophic statement and symbols are important.
Objection: It won't make kids better. Answer: A prayer recited at the start of congressional sessions doesn't make legislators more spiritual. In order to give something social significance, it must be publicly affirmed. School prayer affirms the importance of God to our civilizati on. It compels students to take note that this society deems God important.
Objection: Even if they're not required to say the prayer, some students may be uncomfortable. Answer: The Pledge of Allegiance probably makes Jehovah's Witnesses uneasy. If sensitivity is the absolute standard, most liberal educational indoctrination (sex education, suicide studies, multi-culturalism) must be rejected.
The error of Prager's arguments is that they all sanction state endorsement of religion, a clear violation of the separation between church and state. By rejecting every Supreme Court decision regarding state-sponsored school prayer of the last 50 plus years, Prager, like many ultra-conservative Jews, is playing into the hands of the Religious Right. If he truly cared about the First Amendment's religio us liberty clauses, which promote government neutrality toward religion, he would not espouse state-sponsored school prayer. |
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