Tuesday, November 22, 1994
Will School Prayer Bring Us Together?
by Wally Dobelis 11/22/94
Now that the election is over, comes the time for healing. It seems that, election after election, we hurt each other more and more. Whether the public or the pols or the election manipulatorsare the originators is uncertain (I suspect the despicable spinmasters), but the polarization is unmistakable, and the bruises carry on. The Helms remark, clearly disrespectful of the Presidency, is unexcusable from a senior Senator of the United States. If that is the way we will go, we are doomed, nationally and globally. We will never be again the moral leaders of the world. And if the Mayor and the Governor keep bruising each other, we are doomed as a state. These people act as adolescents who never grew up, I recognize the symptoms. God, don't ever give me powers, I'd be worse than all of them.
Ego fulfillment is at the base of all problems. The teenage fathers who impregnate girls and keep ego-boosting scorecards are men who have been frustrated, either in school or at home. They cannot get jobs that give them selfrespect, or they cannot get wish-fulfillment. It's a personal problem, and neither Charles Murray nor the social structure is of help.
Therefore, the reaction. The underclass, who largely don't vote, has its advocates, the "pantywaist Liberals." Now, the middle class has decided that it cannot take it any more and reacts violently. That is anti-Establishmentarianism. Rational, humanitarian government gets discarded, and anyone who is against establishment, gets in.
This reaction must be recognized and honored, else it will destroy us. The proposal to revive school prayer, or a moment of silence, is not an attempt to coerce religious observance. It is simply to reestablish public morality. In the Engel decision of 1962 the Supreme Court of the United States declared that we will not be coerced to worship. Implicit in that decision was that we will not publicly declare a moral position. President Kennedy declared that teaching morality is the function of the home. Now, 32 years later, it is evident that leaving morality to the home is a total failure. The home has collapsed, since Mom has to get a job. Mrs Madelyn Murray O'Hare, the great atheist, screwed us up royally, as a nation and as a society. The people who sued schools for continuing prayers passed the wrong message, the message that morality is wrong. That was and is deadly. And the people who valiantly continued to pray, in Jesus' name, did no better, they passed a sectarian message, to confirm Mrs. Murray's thesis. If the Religious Right keeps it up, they will screw up our one chance to bring the issue of morality back to the schools.
The family structure is no longer the force Kennedy wishfully blabbed about. There is no moral or otherwise force behind family edicts. Mother is out, bringing in the 2nd income, instead of keeping the hearth going. Adolescents are against family imposed morality. A father's or mother's orders will be disobeyed in principle. There is no point in pushing them, if you want any rapport with your teenager.
This is such a simple thing that it is shocking not to have it recognized. Peer group action is what determines an adolescent's acceptance of rules. Adolescents do not rebel against peer group; they rebel against parents. It is so stupid and so simple. And in a lot of areas the teachers, the church, the community morality and the general tone will determine the kids' ways, because they are other than the oppressive family. A school period of silence will build something. A prayer period will build more, but I've given up on that issue, we will never have it again.
So, let's consider a moment of silence, or a moment of morality. The adolescent from a functional family will not be hurt; the one from a disfunctional family will be helped. IF this moment is devoted to a reading and explanation of the Gettysburg Address, the Golden Rule, the words of MLKing, the Rolling Stones or Mohammed the Prophet or Mohammed X, we are all ahead. We really need this. But no sectarian words, none in Jesus' name, please. The current antagonism to the prayer in school is fostered by the militancy of the Religious Right. If they keep it up, the battle for morality lessons in school is lost.
So there, America, make your choice. The Murray atheism issue was a non-issue, so much bull. No one was making a state religion in the U.S., a country of 300 faiths. I condemn you, Mrs Murray, a destroyer of the moral values of your land, as I condemn those who, under the guise of preservation of their own puny rights, destroy a great nation and a moral force in the world. This covers the claimants of black or white rage, the abused children who kill their parents, the "alcohol or drug made me do it" people, and the people who claim victimization. We are all responsible for our actions. ACLU, examine your principles. McCarthy is dead. The pendulum is too far over, it must swing back, at least for a while. If we keep building excuses, we will truly destroy the moral basis of this nation.
Now that the election is over, comes the time for healing. It seems that, election after election, we hurt each other more and more. Whether the public or the pols or the election manipulatorsare the originators is uncertain (I suspect the despicable spinmasters), but the polarization is unmistakable, and the bruises carry on. The Helms remark, clearly disrespectful of the Presidency, is unexcusable from a senior Senator of the United States. If that is the way we will go, we are doomed, nationally and globally. We will never be again the moral leaders of the world. And if the Mayor and the Governor keep bruising each other, we are doomed as a state. These people act as adolescents who never grew up, I recognize the symptoms. God, don't ever give me powers, I'd be worse than all of them.
Ego fulfillment is at the base of all problems. The teenage fathers who impregnate girls and keep ego-boosting scorecards are men who have been frustrated, either in school or at home. They cannot get jobs that give them selfrespect, or they cannot get wish-fulfillment. It's a personal problem, and neither Charles Murray nor the social structure is of help.
Therefore, the reaction. The underclass, who largely don't vote, has its advocates, the "pantywaist Liberals." Now, the middle class has decided that it cannot take it any more and reacts violently. That is anti-Establishmentarianism. Rational, humanitarian government gets discarded, and anyone who is against establishment, gets in.
This reaction must be recognized and honored, else it will destroy us. The proposal to revive school prayer, or a moment of silence, is not an attempt to coerce religious observance. It is simply to reestablish public morality. In the Engel decision of 1962 the Supreme Court of the United States declared that we will not be coerced to worship. Implicit in that decision was that we will not publicly declare a moral position. President Kennedy declared that teaching morality is the function of the home. Now, 32 years later, it is evident that leaving morality to the home is a total failure. The home has collapsed, since Mom has to get a job. Mrs Madelyn Murray O'Hare, the great atheist, screwed us up royally, as a nation and as a society. The people who sued schools for continuing prayers passed the wrong message, the message that morality is wrong. That was and is deadly. And the people who valiantly continued to pray, in Jesus' name, did no better, they passed a sectarian message, to confirm Mrs. Murray's thesis. If the Religious Right keeps it up, they will screw up our one chance to bring the issue of morality back to the schools.
The family structure is no longer the force Kennedy wishfully blabbed about. There is no moral or otherwise force behind family edicts. Mother is out, bringing in the 2nd income, instead of keeping the hearth going. Adolescents are against family imposed morality. A father's or mother's orders will be disobeyed in principle. There is no point in pushing them, if you want any rapport with your teenager.
This is such a simple thing that it is shocking not to have it recognized. Peer group action is what determines an adolescent's acceptance of rules. Adolescents do not rebel against peer group; they rebel against parents. It is so stupid and so simple. And in a lot of areas the teachers, the church, the community morality and the general tone will determine the kids' ways, because they are other than the oppressive family. A school period of silence will build something. A prayer period will build more, but I've given up on that issue, we will never have it again.
So, let's consider a moment of silence, or a moment of morality. The adolescent from a functional family will not be hurt; the one from a disfunctional family will be helped. IF this moment is devoted to a reading and explanation of the Gettysburg Address, the Golden Rule, the words of MLKing, the Rolling Stones or Mohammed the Prophet or Mohammed X, we are all ahead. We really need this. But no sectarian words, none in Jesus' name, please. The current antagonism to the prayer in school is fostered by the militancy of the Religious Right. If they keep it up, the battle for morality lessons in school is lost.
So there, America, make your choice. The Murray atheism issue was a non-issue, so much bull. No one was making a state religion in the U.S., a country of 300 faiths. I condemn you, Mrs Murray, a destroyer of the moral values of your land, as I condemn those who, under the guise of preservation of their own puny rights, destroy a great nation and a moral force in the world. This covers the claimants of black or white rage, the abused children who kill their parents, the "alcohol or drug made me do it" people, and the people who claim victimization. We are all responsible for our actions. ACLU, examine your principles. McCarthy is dead. The pendulum is too far over, it must swing back, at least for a while. If we keep building excuses, we will truly destroy the moral basis of this nation.
