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From: amigo2@ihuxq.UUCP (John Hobson)
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Re: Prayer in schools and WHY
Message-ID: <621@ihuxq.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 9-Feb-84 10:43:30 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxq.621
Posted: Thu Feb  9 10:43:30 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 10-Feb-84 06:34:41 EST
References: <198@mi-eec.UUCP> <623@ihuxp.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 31

I don't think that prayer has a place in the public schools.  Here's
why:

In the early 1950s, I was going to a public school in State College,
Pennsylvania.  I was the only Catholic in my class, and the teacher
(a Baptist) had me stand up in class, while she led the other
children in a prayer for the good of my soul (I had enough problems
because of my English accent that all the other kids found so
funny).  It was a humiliating experience that has stayed with me
ever since.  If there were prayer in the public schools, I don't see
what would stop that sort of thing from happening again.

Also, any prayer that would be general enough to satisfy all of the
students who might be praying (there is a Buddhist in my son's
second grade class) would be so vague as to be meaningless.  It
would be only one step up from starting with "To whom it may
concern."

Teach the students about religion, a great idea.  Every year, my
family has a seder so that my children may better appreciate their
Jewish roots (my mother is/was a Jew--she converted to Catholicsim
when she got married).  I think that people should have a good
knowledge of what other people believe; taught in such a way that
they get an appreciation that other people have a legitimate
religion and that theirs is not the only way to God.

				John Hobson
				AT&T Bell Labs
				Naperville, IL
				(312) 979-0193
				ihnp4!ihuxq!amigo2