Religion has taken hold of the headlines again, this time hailing from the town of Cranston, R.I. where a high school student there successfully sued her high school to have a written prayer that was hanging on a wall removed. This girl is a self proclaimed atheist, having lost her faith in God around the age of 10 when her mother was ill for a time and God did nothing to help her. But her atheism is not the issue at hand here. What is at issue is the removal of a prayer hanging on a wall. This is not a situation where a public school is forcing students to recite prayers on a daily basis. In fact, the prayer is non-denominational, having been written by a student in the 1960's, presented to the school as a present by that year's graduating class, and consequently hung on a wall in either their gymnasium or auditorium. It seems this girl's main issue with the prayer is that it mentions "Our Heavenly Father". The prayer reads as follows: "Our Heavenly Father, Grant us each day the desire to do our best, to grow mentally and morally as well as physically, to be kind and helpful to our classmates and teachers, to be honest with ourselves as well as with others. Help us to be good sports and to smile when we lose as well as when we win. Teach us the value of true friendship. Help us always to conduct ourselves so as to bring credit to Cranston High School West. Amen." That was it, the main bone of contention, that is now causing an uproar in Rhode Island. (To see the article on this topic, click here.)
The ruling judge on the case claimed that the prayer's presence in the high school was unconstitutional as it violated the principle of government neutrality in religion. His rational for ruling in favor of the prayer's removal in my opinion is flawed. If you look to the specific wording of the Bill of Rights, in particular the first amendment, it reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Going off of the wording, there was no law made respecting a given religion or for that matter prohibiting anyone from practicing religion. I know there must be flexibility within the amendment that maintains its pertinence across the ages, but to me, it seems pretty cut and dry. If on the other hand the school had all the students recite the prayer every day, then perhaps there could be a larger point of contention. But to have a prayer removed, whose only specific reference to religion is "our heavenly father" and "Amen", is to me bordering on the unconstitutional. I have brought this up before, but the word God is present in our pledge of allegiance that is recited in most schools every day, and also on our currency which is used by essentially every American, including this high school girl. I agree that students shouldn't be forced to recite something they don't believe in, whether it be the pledge of allegiance or a prayer, but when the law gets brought in to have a prayer removed from a wall, issues arise. I personally hope that the appeal to have the prayer remain succeeds. If the appeal succeeds however, I foresee a long, drawn out battle reaching the Supreme Court.
I think its pretty clear where I stand in regards to the removal of this prayer. I essentially think the judge's decision was wrong and feel that it should be appealed and the prayer re-hung on the wall of the high school. It is not like the ten commandments are hanging from the wall. What I do have a problem with is how people are reacting to this girl and the decision. People are sending threats, speaking ill of her, and bordering on violence. It has gotten to the point where police have to escort her to and around school just to maintain her safety. If there was ever more reason for her not to believe in God, its people's reactions to her lawsuit and the subsequent ruling. She has her feelings on the matter and as such, she should be treated with respect and dignity. Just because she is an atheist does not mean people can treat her poorly, issue threats against her, and otherwise make her life a living hell. Are we not taught to treat others as we would want to be treated? The only true way to show this girl that God does exist is to treat her the same as anyone else. If anything, the way people are acting in Rhode Island currently does more to solidify her position as an atheist. Rhode Island is the most Catholic state in the country, and yet the people are reacting to this as if they were in the stone age. While they may not agree with her viewpoints and the overall decision that was made, they do not have free reign to ostracize her and exclude her from the community based on her beliefs. While I feel that the prayer should remain, I also think that this girl needs to be treated with a little more dignity.
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