I received another one of those e-mails urging me to back prayer in the schools. This one began with a take off of the nursery rhyme Mary Had a Little Lamb and so I got sucked into reading it.I usually delete these e-mail campaigns but because this one was forwarded by a friend in Australia I found myself writing a reasoned reply. You want prayers in the schools? But what prayers? Do we rotate to give equal time to all or base it upon the majority of kids in the classroom?
I frankly have nothing against prayer at various events. I frankly find invocations comforting at the beginning of conferences where weighty issues are going to be discussed. And I have attended many a twelve step meeting that ended with the holding of hands and the recital of The Lord's Prayer. I love attending churches of different denominations and bowing my head in reverence along with everyone else.
Unfortunately the people that are most advocating prayer in the schools are not just about these moments of shared quiet or inspiration. Prayer in school campaigns have noting to do with the belief in God. They are the about the desire of certain fundamentalist Christian sects that want to make our government a theocracy. In that theocracy it would be a capital offense (death penalty) to utter any prayer but the one they approved. In fact texting OMG would be taking the Lord's name in vain and get you hauled before a tribunal.
All other religions but theirs or any prayer to other than Jesus would be a capital offense. So no Zen mediation. No Muslim bows to the east. No Shaloms. It would be a death penalty offense to call God Allah or any other name used currently by the many religions of this world. It would be a crime to be a Hebrew or a Buddhist or a Gnostic or a Wiccan.
I found it interesting that this particular e-mail campaign chose Mary had a little lamb. It's fleece was white as snow . . . In their perfect world where prayer was back in the schools there would be no other colors of lambs. All the black and brown and red fleeces of lambs would be gone. Doesn't this sound a lot like Hitler and his chosen Aryan people?
You see that last paragraph? That is frightening.
ReplyDeleteYou know me - practicing Catholic who respects the beliefs of others. But I have a major, major problem with religious zealots no matter what the creed. I find the intolerance practiced by over zealous Christians to be unacceptable in the same way that I find fundamentalists in Islam to be unacceptable. I had a problem with the Irish Catholics who subscribed to the cause of the IRA and a problem with the Protestants who subscribed to the ways of Ian Paisley.
When I'm addressing a secular group or any group of mixed beliefs and am either opening or closing in prayer, I keep it short and say something along the lines of 'and may your God go with you". Keeps everyone happy, no one is offended and people feel they've had a spiritual input.
I have always loved Vaya con Dios - go with God. It is so non-denominational and yet celebrates spiritual connectedness. I think it is remarkably vain for any of us to think we have all the right answers about God or spirituality or religion. It is a path we follow and along which we learn. Those that contend they have all the answers have stopped learning and closed their minds.
ReplyDeletei agree with your comments here. instead of prayers in school why don't we insitute some sort of system where people can claim 'spiritual time' for themselves. the chaplaincy at my own university used to facilitate activities that fostered this and people from all religions felt welcome.
ReplyDeleteI am all for 'spiritual time' and anything that is open to all. Not happy with exclusivity of any form when it comes to spirituality.
ReplyDeleteA man died and went to heaven. St Peter was showing him around and he was amazed to see so many people of different colours and creeds, interacting with one another.
St Peter and the man came to a fifty foot wall and there was obviously something going on behind it as there was quite a bit of noise coming from that direction.
Man: "What's behind that high wall?"
St Peter: "The Catholics. We let them think they're the only ones up here"!!!