When I first heard about prayer being banned in schools I thought that the idea was absolutely proposterous. After all, who is man that he actually believes that he can ban an omnipotent, all mighty God who is everywhere. Make no mistake about it, banning prayer in school is the same as trying to ban God in school, because in prayer we acknowledge God as being greater than we are by humbling ourselves, and asking him to supply all of our needs and the needs of others.
Proponents of this idea say that keeping prayer out of schools is a form of maintaining separation of church and state given the fact that most schools are operated by a governing body. With that being said, I am still waiting for each and every piece of currency that reads "In God we trust", to be removed from circulation due to a failure to maintain separation of church and state. But of course this will never happen because standing on that particular "moral high ground" comes with a cost. So the same hypocrites who speak tolerance have absolutely no tolerance for a conflicting opinions.
My right to believe that God should be allowed in school is just as important as those with a different opinion. But some on the far left are quick to villify anyone who disagrees, creating a culture of fear. Which frankly, has caused me to move closer to the center. No where near the far right, but far enough removed from the left to avoid being a sheep.
A 10-year-old student at a public school in Memphis, Tenn. was prohibited from writing about God in an in-class writing assignment.
The incident occurred earlier this week at Lucy Elementary School. The girl, identified only as Erin, wanted to write about God for an assignment. For the assignment, the teacher had asked students to choose an idol.
“It was so cute and innocent. She talked about how God created the earth and how she’s doing the best she can,” the girl’s mother, Erica Shead, told the station.
However, Erin’s teacher quickly nixed the girl’s reverence of The Almighty. According to Shead, the teacher told Erin that “it has something to do with God” and, in any case, Erin would not be allowed to idolize God for the assignment in the classroom that day.
“How can you tell this baby, that’s a Christian, what she can say and what she can’t say?” complained Shead.
The concerned mother promptly protested to the school principal, asking to see the policy which prevented students from writing positively about their religious beliefs.
“I told the principal this morning: would it be better if she wrote about Ellen Degeneres?” Shead told a WREG reporter. “Of course there was no comment.”
School district spokesman Christian Ross said that teachers can’t promote a particular religion but also stressed that students are free to write as they like about their own religion.
A later, clarified response from the Shelby County School District called the incident “a regrettable misunderstanding.”
“The principal and teacher have had a positive and productive conversation with the family, and we are pleased this matter is being addressed at the school level,” the later statement also said. “The district will not be discussing this matter further in the media.”
It’s not clear what, if anything ultimately happened with the assignment. According to Shead, her daughter’s teacher had required her to start the project all over again from scratch, choosing another idol.
She chose dead pop star Michael Jackson, a world-historical figure whom the teacher accepted as an idol.
The Second Commandment prohibits the worshiping of idols.
Michael Jackson did not sacrifice himself for anyone except himself. He is as far from an idol as you can get.
PR
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