Prayer in School?

People are still complaining over the removal of prayer from the public schools,  claiming that it is contributing to the moral decline of our nation. 

So all we have to do is get a bunch of sixth or seventh graders repeating the Lord’s Prayer, by rote, each morning and the moral barometer of our nation will immediately surge upwards: teenage pregnancies would decrease, drug use by high schoolers would decline, kids would become better students and their GPA would climb, and a broader respect for parents and teachers would occur.

Really, do people actually believe this? Saying the Lord’s Prayer each morning would have this kind of effect on the youth of America? 

I can only speak from experience: We prayed the Lord’s Prayer each morning in homeroom. The teacher also read a few verses from the New Testament. 

Guess what? 

Such religious observances had little to no affect on the overall behavior of the students in my high school. Guys still sneaked outside to smoke, girls continued to get pregnant, students cheated on their tests, and there was always that pervasive disregard for authority among many of the students.

Now please don't misunderstand me, not everyone in my high school was a bad egg. Most students were respectful, well behaved, good students academically, and many were mindful of certain moral expectations (particularly when it came to dating).

But my suspicion is that they learned this kind of behavior from their parents, not from their teachers.

Okay, people have been complaining about State sponsored prayer being prohibited in the public schools for over fifty years now. Once again, the claim is often made that this government act (which was enacted to protect the rights of all people (religious or not) is a big reason for the so-called “decline of our nation.”

But I believe the problem lies deeper than the removal of prayer from the public schools. I also believe that the problem lies closer to the Christian doorstep than many realize.

The loss of Christian credibility in America has little or nothing to do with the lack of prayer in schools. It does, however, have much more to do with Christian behavior, or lack thereof, in the public arena or marketplace.

The decline of religious influence on the American life may have more to do with American Christians than with the removal of school prayer. This may be a big pill to swallow but our taking responsibility for the way we live in the public arena is a huge step in helping reverse the trend of disrespect being shown towards Christianity in general.

Church historians have pointed out that Christianity grew the fastest and the furthest during the first couple hundred years of its existence. It was a movement on fire and conversions to Christianity were plentiful given the negative status of Christianity in the Roman Empire. 

One such historian, Alan Kreider, offers compelling evidence that what stood behind this unprecedented growth was not the result of evangelism or missions programs, but rather it was the way these early Christians behaved in the public arena. The modern practice of “soul-winning” was unheard of back in that time.

But they did live with a passion for Christ. Christianity was not just a Sunday morning religious observance but rather a way of life. Their Christianity defined them as followers of Christ and promoters of his teachings. They lived what they professed. They practiced what they preached. 

More importantly they loved as he loved. 

These early believers were not prone to making enemies, were patient towards those outside their own tribe. They helped care for the poor and cared for the marginalized among them. They deeply cared for one another.

They were peace makers and thus not prone to war or violence. Most would not participate in war. They did not believe violence solved any of the social conflicts they encountered. Actually, Christians were forbidden to serve in the military until the time of Constantine (4th century). 

In a word, they lived their faith like their faith really mattered.

If they were living today they may very well coin the phrase: “Faith Matters!”

I would contend that we today might learn some things about what the Christian life ought to look like to the public eye; what the optics of our way of life should look like; how our lifestyle and words there with our Christian identity.

If anything, reflecting Christ to the world by the way we live and relate may help reverse any trend of disrespect for our faith in today’s world. It may even help reverse the trend of decline of our faith in America.

It’s something to consider.