Do You Really Want School Prayer?

One of the issues in most local campaign's is school prayer. Now they say voluntary, but it is school prayer non the less. I too have in the past been for returning prayer to the school. After all, it was there when I was in school, it couldn't do any harm. Today, I am not convinced there could be no harm.

Before you go off the deep end, let's think this through. If we had school prayer what would it look like? In today's politically correct environment what prayer would be espoused. Whose religion would be chosen? Are you OK with a Muslim prayer in your child's classroom? What about Hindu? Is it the school's responsibility to train my child or grandchild in prayer? Because I am a Christian, I don't want any other influence on my child but Christian. If the school is to be "fair", then they will be exposed to other influences and thought that go against my Christian beliefs. There is plenty of that without adding religious instruction contrary to my belief system.

Has the dismissal of prayer from school been the overriding factor in the down trend of society and morals? Some would argue that it is and I might agree that it has contributed, but it is not the overriding factor. I have been in church all of my life. I have worked in the public eye where I can observe human behavior and I have raised two children of my own. In all of these instances I had the opportunity to watch human behavior. I have watched as each generation gets a little further from the center of their upbringing. I recently read an article, not sure where, that had the results from a survey of 18-24 year old. Only 64% of those interviewed that went to church while at home stayed in church when they left home for work or college. Thankfully many only stayed out a year or less but yet they made the decision to not attend. Some said it was because they only went because of peer pressure.

This is not new. I knew young people like all along. Some went to church because of a girl or boy they liked. Others just like to do the fun stuff and sometimes the message got through and someone's life was changed.

The answer is not school prayer but parents, grandparents, Sunday School teachers, youth workers, and ministers all working together to insure the future generations follow the teachings of Jesus.