Here’s a link to an article I found on Huffington Post:
Missouri To Vote On Prayer Amendment 2 Known As ‘Right To Pray’
I am a firm believer in the separation of church & state. However, I wonder if it might not be more profitable to challenge this law in ways that are more creative than your average lawsuit?
This amendment is obviously the brain-child of Christian fundamentalists trying to assert their dominance over society.
So, imagine what it would be like if state legislation sessions began with a tribal shaman blessing the four directions and smudging the delegates? How would it change the flow of public debate if committee meetings began with five minutes of guided Zazen meditation? Can you imagine a room full of Missouri politicians bowing in reverence toward Mecca?
Of course, they’d never go for it (thus revealing the inherent problem with this amendment), but the idea certainly creates intriguing mental images.
The thing is you can pray in school any time you want. What you can’t do is have organized prayer for all or even some. Besides some place in the New Testament Christ tells us to pray in private and scolds those making a big deal about praying in public.
Ed
Ay-men, brothers. I went to a high school next door to a Catholic High school. When the subject was brought up (45 years ago!) Mr, Prochilo responded, “If you want to have prayer run by the school staff, go next door. If you want the government to pay for your (kid’s) education, I’m you man!”
A point that was amply illustrated when Rep. Valarie Hodges, who initially voted in favour of Jindal’s school voucher program in LA, said she would have voted against it if she had known that money could be given to non-Christian schools. Thankfully, more people are speaking up and out against the attempts of the more fundamentalist crowd to erode church-state separation.
More info: http://tinyurl.com/cyv43ak
I am also informed that a growing number of younger evangelicals are turning away from the more hard-line beliefs of the older evangelical community and being more embracing of interfaith, environmental stewardship, etc. It will be interesting to see what impact this has on things in the future.
Indeed they are, Sunna. Evangelicals like Brian D. McLaren and Jim Wallis are really raising the bar of public discourse. May their kind find a louder voice in the media.