Rally ’round the pole, a moment of silence, a quick Hail Mary before the big game – where will the line be drawn, and when is it all going to stop? Our country was founded on the basis that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
Organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for a Separation of Church and State work hard to ensure that prayer does not reach the classroom. These groups have been successful thus far, yet they still need the help of the public. Students all over the country need to take a stand and not let the religious right walk all over them.
The basis is innocent enough – live an honest life and it will be rewarding and fulfilling. The manner in which the message is sent out is filled with words to the Lord, the Virgin Mary and Jesus. For those who believe in the power of these higher beings, that is fine, and they are glad to take a minute out of their day to acknowledge them. For those who believe otherwise this is a time of discomfort and alienation.
Now, more than ever before, issues such as mandatory prayer in public schools, tax dollars for parochial schools, government intrusion into religious affairs and meddling in partisan politics by religious groups are threatening the wall between church and state.
In the past the ACLU and Americans United have stopped several political attempts to require prayer and religious activity in public schools. Their latest cause is keeping the Ten Commandments out of public areas, specifically classrooms. The religious right contends that the Ten Commandments have provided the organizing principles for life, family, education, law, government and economics in the majority of western nations.
While many groups of the religious right revere the Ten Commandments, many other religious groups do not. If government officials put up the Decalogue, will they also post the Five Pillars of Islam, the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, the Wiccan Rede and the Affirmations of Humanism? The government should never play favorites when it comes to religion, thus automatically discriminating against minority religions and atheists.
Likewise, there is no standard version of the Ten Commandments. Different religions and denominations list the commandments in different orders and use different language. When government agencies and public schools post one version and not others, they are taking sides in a theological debate.
In Judaism, the First Commandment is traditionally, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Unlike Jews, Christians generally regard this statement as a prologue, and not part of the Commandments proper, and it is therefore entirely missing from most Christian formats. Because of that elision, the Jewish Second Commandment, You shall have no other gods before me, has more or less become the Christian First, with the necessary numerical adjustments continuing down the line.
When students become so distraught over ostracism that they shoot one another, how can we promote further alienation? Schools are for learning secular subjects, not how to pray.
-The writer is treasurer of the American Civil Liberties Union at GW.
