School Prayer

In Hell on Earth, a love story, Hank wrote about everything. He even wrote Hell on Earth, a love story but he also wrote features for newspapers and letters to the editor and essays on every topic imaginable. I know where he’s coming from. I’ve done the same thing and now that wedge issues are again gaining prominence I decided to pull out an old editorial. The nice thing about wedge issues is they’re always there when you want them.



Here are my thoughts on school prayer. I don’t think it makes much difference, one way or the other. I definitely don’t think a moment of prayer, a moment of silence, a moment of meditation or for that matter a bicentennial minute will cause any harm to any student. I also can’t see it doing any real good. Those younger than 40 will have to ask heir parents what a bicentennial minute was.

The real winners—and winning these wedge issues are what these issues are always all about, pray tell—will be the adults who succeed in establishing a moment of silence or the adults who succeed in squashing a moment of silence. This is most definitely an adult thing and there is nothing really wrong with that, if it keeps them out of trouble, so long as everyone concedes that it has nothing to do with the kids.

I do question, though, the people who wrote the law. What’s with, “forbidding distractive displays?” Or more specifically, since when has making the sign of the cross, when praying, been a distractive display? Would bowing your head be a distractive display? Would closing your eyes qualify? How about closing one eye? Okay, maybe that would be distracting. But I don’t see the need for any further restrictions once you’ve declared that the moment be a moment of silence.

Actually, there is a lot to be gained from having a moment of silence without any other restrictions. If some kids stand, and some kids cross, and some kids bow, and some kids clinch their fists, then the lesson to be learned will be this: We’re all different and you better get used to it. Certainly, learning to be tolerant of others should be one of the most important lessons we learn in school.

When these kids finally put their school days behind them and move on into the work world the first thing they will learn is that the workroom floor or office will be made up of Christians and non-Christians. The Christians will be Catholics, Baptists, Methodists or any one of a number of other denominations; the non-Christians will be Muslims, Buddhists, and Jews; and there will be atheist, too. And just like in school there will be those who don’t have a clue.

And if that isn't enough variety there will be whites, blacks, Hispanics, and others; tall people and short people; skinny and fat, lazy and industrious. There’ll be polite men and obnoxious women, loud mouths and people who never talk.

And there will be people who never stop talking.

That is when everyone will pray for a moment of silence.