Religious
expression has been a source of conflict throughout American history. The
colony of Rhode Island was established with the primary goal of freedom of
religious expression. Thomas Jefferson wrote the defining statement on freedom
of religion into the Virginia Statutes before the American Constitution was
developed. Questions continue to be raised about the place of religious
expression in the public setting.
Of most
immediate concern is what are we doing about what we personally believe. Our
court system is still addressing issues such as allowing prayer at the
beginning of public government meetings whether it be town councils, state
legislatures, or congress itself. People still raise the issue of the
appropriateness of mentioning God in a public setting in a way that would be
considered reverential.
Our Supreme
Court issued rulings related to prayer and Bible reading in schools in cases
handed down in 1962 and 1963 (Engel v. Vitale and Abingdon School District v.
Schempp respectively). In summary these decisions said a public school could
not demand a prayer composed by the institution be used by the students or
faculty, nor could a sectarian book be required reading as devotional material.
From these cases and others that followed, many have said the Supreme Court
took the Bible and prayer out of schools.
As long as
there are math tests there will be prayer in schools. I use this humorous
statement to make the point the Supreme Court did not ban prayer or Bible
reading in our public schools. The rulings were clear that religious expression
could be banned from schools only if it disrupted the intended purpose of the
school which is nonsectarian instruction.
This says
students can pray in school all they want as long as it does not disrupt the
purpose of the school. Students can read the Bible all they want as long as it
does not disrupt the teaching program of the school. Student religious groups have
the right to meet on school property as long as it is not during instruction
time.
This all
leads to my primary point. Most students will not know how to pray or how to
study their Bibles in a school setting if they are not learning how in their
homes and churches. People who complain about the courts taking the Bible and
prayer out of public schools raise my blood pressure when I discover they do
not practice regular family devotion periods at home, or they do not provide their
children with Bible and devotional material designed for their comprehension
level, nor make sure their kids are WITH
them in Bible study at church on a regular basis.
In
conjunction with this is my growing concern about the time we spend in prayer
and Bible reading in our churches. During a year’s time I will be in more than
thirty churches on multiple occasions. I find a diversity of worship styles and
elements. I also find a lack of focused prayer and extensive Bible reading.
Most prayers
in Sunday morning church service last less than 90 seconds. The pastoral prayer
will last the longest at three to five minutes. Wednesday night prayer services
are generally illness discussions, a brief Bible study, and a prayer time that
may last ten minutes. If most of our
people only come to corporate worship services, when are we teaching them to
pray?
Bible
readings in most of our churches take even less time. The text for the sermon
may often be the only biblical passage read. We spend more time singing than we
do reading the Bible. It takes more time to take up the offering than it does
to read the Bible. Is this how we teach our children the importance of the
Bible?
Deu 6:6-7 Never forget these commands that I am giving
you today. Teach them to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and
when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working.
My patience
runs thin when I hear someone complaining about our courts. I want to ask them
if they have abdicated their roles as parents to the government. We are truly
in a sad situation if we have.
