Recently the Supreme Court agreed to make a ruling on whether or not it is Constitutional to have state-sanctioned prayer in public schools. The Court is acting on the protest of some half dozen parents of pupils in the New Hyde Park school district in New York.
The protest stemmed from the use in the schools of that district of a prayer, known as the “Regents Prayer,” which reads: “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence on Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our country.”
The fact that the highest court in this nation even considers such a ridiculous protest is beyond all reason. Belief and dependence upon God is the one principle that has made this country what it is. This principle is the basic difference between democracy and communism.
Just where is this country headed when belief in God is questioned or denied? What hope is there left for America when we discontinue teaching that God is the most important thing in our lives?
Next to the home (and in some cases, more than the home), our schools exert possibly the most profound influence upon the beliefs of the youth in this nation. It used to be that schools devoted much attention to creating within the students a respect and love for “God and Country.” But what are the cries of today? “Academic freedom!” “Education for Broadmindedness!” “Ban the Bible! Teach Darwin!” . . . and so on.
Take God out of the schools and you invite communism. What a shame and disgrace it is that to even mention God in schools is frowned upon, while to talk of Marx, Lenin, Voltaire, and other atheists is viewed as “intellectual!”
If we must take God out of the schools, why don’t we take the phrase, “Under God,” out of the Pledge of Allegiance? It’s “discriminatory.” Why don’t we stop using the Bible in courts and start using “Origin of Species” or a copy of “Zen Buddhism”? They are much more “intellectual.” If we must rid ourselves of all “prejudice” let’s stop this biased opposition to communism. And while we’re busy at the task of being “broadminded” why don’t we move to do away with all these religious educational institutions who deny atheists “academic freedom”?
What is it going to take to wake this nation up?
—Jack Shultz