Patti Wiginton, the About.com Guide to Paganism/Wicca, has a blog post on separation of church and state that dovetails nicely with the one I wrote yesterday. Patti writes about the practice of reading Christian prayers over a loudspeaker before public school athletic competitions. For some reason, many people are attached to group prayers before high school football games in particular.
But a public school is an entity of government, and if the school system is enabling a Christian group prayer before a game, this amounts to government promotion of one religion, Christianity. And this is a clear violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment.
The school system in question, Soddy-Daisy High School of Chattanooga, Tennessee, apparently thought the prayers would not be in violation of the First Amendment because they were being read by students, not faculty. Someone complained about the prayers, however, and the county school superintendent ordered all principals in the school district to stop all such prayers.
In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court found student-led, student initiated prayers at football games to be unconstitutional back in 2000, in the case of Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe. In this case, the public high school students voted to choose one student to represent the student body to say a pre-football game prayers. The designated student said prayers of her own composition. But the prayers being read were offensive to some Catholic and Mormon parents, who sued the school.
The Court ruled that even though a student initiated and composed the prayers, the prayers amounted to speech authorized by a government entity that took place on government property at government-sponsored school-related events. And as Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in his opinion, "the majoritarian process implemented by the District guarantees, by definition, that minority candidates will never prevail and that their views will be effectively silenced."
Again, this is the chief issue that the religious clauses of the First Amendment address -- the possibility that a religious faction would take over government and use it to promote their religious agenda and coerce others into submitting to their religious practices, thereby depriving others of their own free exercise of religion. The First Amendment ensures that in matters of religion, the majority doesn't get to rule.
Naturally, there's a huge backlash against the ending of prayers in the Chattanooga schools. "The majority of people are just upset that a tradition in their community is being forced to end by the voice of a few," one resident said. But again, that's just the point -- the area of religion is one area in which a majority cannot use government to have their way.
"As the people who complain have a right to their opinion, the people who want to pray have just as much rights to express their beliefs," said another person. But no one is stopping anyone from praying. My understanding is that if the people who want to pray before the game want to organize themselves and say a group prayer together, even on school property, they are free to do so. They just can't use the taxpayers' speaker system and make their prayer an official part of the "program" that everyone must sit through.
Patti mentions the Dominant Religion Lens Factor, which is a phrase I hadn't heard before. My interpretation of this factor is that to many Americans, Christianity is the "default norm" or generic religion that is assumed to be acceptable to everyone. We saw this displayed last year when Justice Antonin Scalia was baffled by the idea that non-Christian World War I veterans might not feel represented and honored by a monument in the form of a Christian cross.
Apparently many people are so blinkered by the Dominant Religion Lens Factor they can't see why their practices are objectionable until the shoe is on the other foot, so to speak. This happened to a fellow named Gary Christenot, a conservative Christian and one-time antagonist of separation of church and state.
Mr. Christenot's job caused him to move his family to a small, and primarily ethnic Asian, community in Hawaii. One day the Christenots went to a local high school football game. A voice came over the loudspeaker asking everyone to rise for an invocation. The Christenots stood, then recoiled in "shock and incredulity" because the prayer being read was Buddhist.
Even worse, they found that the pre-game prayers in that school district always were either Buddhist or Shinto. Christians were such a tiny minority of the local population they weren't included in the prayer rotation. The Christenots never attended another high school football game while they lived in Hawaii, because they were made so uncomfortable by the prayers. "I felt instantly ostracized and viewed myself as a foreigner in my own land," Mr. Christenot wrote.
But to his credit, Mr. Christenot realized that non-Christians must feel as badly being subjected to Christian prayers as he felt being subjected to Buddhist prayers, and he became an opponent of prayers in public schools.
For the record, I'm as opposed to Buddhist prayers in public schools as I am to Christian ones. But maybe the only way to show people why coerced prayers are a problem is to cut a deal -- you can have your pre-game prayer said over a loudspeaker, but only if all the religious groups in your district are given equal access. In the case of Chattanooga, I believe that would include several synagogues, at least a couple of Buddhist centers, three Islamic centers, one Wiccan coven, and one Hindu temple. Could be interesting.
I feel similarly to Mr. Christenot (what a great name!) when it comes to single-faith religious observances of any kind, but also national anthems and pledges of allegiance.
No, I don’t attend many functions anymore
I’d love to hear prayers at games and community events and would welcome a different religion or belief to present their prayer, each getting a game or event to lead. What a beautiful way to get some cultural exposure! I noticed you mentioned the tax funded loud speaker. At our local public high school the PA system was donated by a very religious man. So, would that make it okay? I have no problem with the anthem or pledge since the facilities are “government property”. I think people look for reasons to be offended. Share your beliefs with me, I welcome them. Where is the threat? There is way too much football team mentality among religious and political parties. People have stopped thinking and reasoning. If it’s not my team’s belief or philosophy then it can’t be correct. I have a Buddhist and a Catholic reading emailed to me every day. I attend a Catholic and a non denominational church and go to my Wiccan friend’s solstice bonfires and chants … but I don’t share the secret handshake with just anybody. There a far more similarities than differences. Lighten up and open up, there is a beautiful world out there, let’s appreciate it all instead of stiffening it.
I don’t think the take-turns thing would work. For one thing, there are a lot of people who don’t do the “live and let live” thing. Prayers by minority religions would probably end up being more divisive than anything; I can just imagine how that would go over with right-wing talk show folx and politicians. Also, there’s a matter of definition: Many don’t believe Buddhism is a religion, some evangelicals don’t accept Catholics at all, and Wicca drives some of our less stable Christians completely over the edge. Then you have the more problematic religions: Would Scientology or Satanism count? Paganism? How about the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or the Church of the Sub Genius? Not to mention the fact that atheists and humanists would tend to be left out altogether. FAR simpler to follow the Constitution and avoid that whole mess entirely.
I would personally be OK with the prayer rotation idea, but I think it would cause huge conflict and divisiveness in most school districts, possibly even spark violence. Steve G., regarding the question about the donated speaker — just having a prayer be part of the official pre-game program is crossing the line. People who want to say a group prayer before the game are free to organize themselves into a prayer circle and say their prayer before the game starts, and they can do this on school property, but the school itself has to stay completely out of it. Really, it’s for the best.
It’s a good idea for every religious group in the community to offer prayers and the principle is extremely simple. Tradition has its demands and the prayer is one of the demands of tradition. Now-in all fairness-no matter how far out the religion is-institute multiple prayers. The next stage is violence, public exposure, international interest, and fanning the flames. A good case in point is Rev. Jones and the burning of the Qurans. When the smoke clears and cooler heads prevail, we can return and enjoy football games for what they really are. They were never meant as platforms for religion of any sort (Christian, Buddhist or Shinto). Let football be what it was meant to be – football! Can anyone here ever imagine international soccer meets to be led by one primary religious group? You would have riots.
I have never met a Christian who allowed a person of an alternative faith to just live and let live. I have had a fish symbol pulled off of my car because it had the word PAGAN in it. The person who pulled it off stayed by our car and apologized but then started to proselytize to me. He vandalized my car and then told me I was evil.
I have had people stand behind my car to argue with me about my bumper stickers. I actually had a man try to grab me and force me to denounce my evil ways. I was fortunate that others were there in the lot to stop him.
I do not believe that scripture of ANY religion should be read or have any prayer on schools that are public. If you want your child to hear prayers or scripture readings take them to church or put them in a church based school.
What are those of us supposed to do who do not want their children brain taught about the invisible man? Are we to start our own schools? Schools that has just the basics of Math, History, Literature, without the bonus of brainwashing?
I suppose our schools then will have higher SAT’s scores.
As for all the religious groups in your district be given equal prayer time, do you really have that much time before a game to cover them all? Christians, Hebrews, Wiccans, Buddhists, Shintos, Islamics, Baha’i, Taoist, Scientologists? And those are the ones just off the top of my head.
Just leave education in schools and religion in the churches.
Being allowed to pray at school should be a fundamental right. If those who oppose it don’t wish to participate then that is also their right. The first amendment guarantees everyone the right to free speech. According to the beginning of the 1st amendment wording it states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, OR PROHIBITING the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech…”
Clay — You’re not getting it. People who wish to pray at football games are free to do so individually and also in groups that they organize themselves. For example, if people in the community wish to organize a voluntary pre-football prayer circle that meets somewhere on school property before the game, they can pray all they like. Nobody is supposed to stop them. The law and the Supreme Court explicitly say such prayers are protected by the First Amendment. What falls afoul of the establishment clause is when the prayer is made an official part of the program that all participants are subjected to, even if the content of the prayer violates their religious beliefs.
So, nobody is being stopped from praying. Nobody is being deprived of the free exercise of their religion. You can still pray away.
When you say “those who oppose it don’t have to participate,” you’re not being honest. If you’re sitting in the stand to watch the game and somebody starts a prayer, you’re still supposed to sit there and be quiet while the prayer is going on. You can’t continue conversations or laugh or tell jokes or sing or otherwise behave the way you were behaving before the prayer started, or people get mad and start shushing you. So the people who don’t want to participate in the prayer are having THEIR “free exercise” violated.
Get it?