Pray this correctness ends

By TIM MCDONALD
newsroom@newsandtribune.com

May 31, 2006 04:51 pm

— First, I’d like to use this space to say goodbye to my seniors from this past year. I have known them since they were sophomores and have seen the maturing of most of them.
Leaving high school is such a critical time in your lives. As much as you want to consider yourselves all grown up, there is still so very much to learn and experience. You are really kids until about your late 20s, and then life will finally catch up with you. I have enjoyed our last three years and look forward to hearing from you now and again and will take great interest in what you do with your lives.
Thank you for all of the neat moments you gave me in the classroom, I am blessed to have known you all. So good luck and Godspeed to: Edna, Amy, Jessica, Cameron, Jed, Tony, Matt, Zach, Lucas, Emily, Erica, Kristina, Kristin, Kayla, Natalie, Samantha, Jason, David, Sarah J., Sarah B., Kara, Stacy, Doug, Anna, Wyatt, Ashley, Ariel, Eddie, Tra, Kasey and Corey.
•••
Last week, as high school graduation season was in full swing, the misinterpretation of the first amendment raised its ugly head once more. A lawsuit was filed against a school that refused to take a prayer out of the graduation ceremonies.
For the record here is the first amendment to the Constitution:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Our forefathers and mothers came to this land to seek religious freedom from England. You see, beginning with Henry VII, the King or Queen of England is also the head of state and defender of the faith. In essence, the titular head of the Church of England. After Henry’s Tammy Wynette moment (D-I-V-O-R-C-E) with the Pope, as his eminence refused to grant Henry a divorce, Henry simply formed his own church and said the heck with Roman Catholicism and the Pope.
Those in England who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and the Pope, along with other splinter protestant religious groups, were persecuted. Eventually the religious separatists in England (Roger Williams et, al) made for America and the New World where they could practice their faith freely. About 150 later, the colonists (as we were called by then) had had enough with England (taxation without representation) and declared independence.
The founding fathers took the best aspects of government they could borrow from England and cast off those aspects that were not conducive to a free people. One of those cast-offs was a government-sanctioned religion (i.e. the Church of England). The founding fathers of this country would not tolerate a “Church of America” which practiced only Catholicism or Baptist or Presbyterianism or any number of religions solely. That is amendment one, you are free to worship as you please.
One of the basic tenets of modern democracy is “majority rules while respecting the rights of the minority.” By the way reader, thanks for hanging in there with me so far. This is where we are left to interpretation.
For example, if you are a rural community without a minority population in the school or community, is it offensive for a prayer at graduation? On the other hand, if you are a school that has a population of mainly Christians with a few Muslims, Hindus or Buddhists, how do you respect the rights of the minorities?
The Supreme Court held in Lee v. Weisman (1992) that if prayer at a graduation is state-sponsored (i.e. the administration leads, mandates or invites clergy to lead) prayer it violates the establishment clause of the first amendment.
I believe that first of all, the graduation ceremony is to celebrate the accomplishment of seniors and they should decide how to handle the situation. You will find that students do respect each other in these matters. If in the case of the rural community, all are Christian church-goers, essentially we have no problem to address.
In a large metropolitan area, religions can be accommodated by a student of each faith represented or by the class deciding the type of prayer and the language. If prayer is led by a student and not a school official or clergy, it does not violate the establishment clause.
It is majority rights, but we do need to respect the minorities in attendance. What then are we to say to the majority of students whose first amendment rights are abridged by political correctness?
Our political correctness has gotten way out of hand and litigation abounds at the drop of a hat. We are too sensible not to come to some sort of compromise. I cannot imagine that the founding fathers envisioned a day when multiple cultures would be present in the new United States.
In his farewell address President George Washington said: “The name of America, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion” ... and later: “... reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle ...”
Washington’s statement in 1797 is still valid today as it was then. According to two surveys competed in 2001 and 2001 (American Religious Identity Survey and Pew Research Council Survey respectively), we are a nation of people who are between 76 percent and 82 percent Christian faiths, 13 percent non religious, 1.3 percent Judaism, .5 percent Muslim, .5 percent Buddhist, .5 percent Agnostic, .4 percent Atheist, and .4 percent Hindu.
The surveys both indicate that the Christian faiths are still the dominant faiths in our country. Let’s continue to honor our graduates while respecting our fellow citizens that are minorities without disrupting the celebrations of accomplishment.
This week I award an A+ to those students who graduated from high school. I award a C to those seeking to disrupt these proceedings through misguided lawsuits rather than rational discussion and compromise.
Tim McDonald is a local educator and President of The Institute for Global Studies. He also does career coaching for recent college graduates. He can be reached at AGlobalInstitute@aol.com

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