     *********************************************************
     *     Michael R. Burhans - Out Of My Mind               *
     *       A Weekly Electronic Column                      *
     *            March 24, 1994                             *
     *********************************************************

                   " Let Us Pray "
                         or
           We Must Force Feed The Kids Our Dogma!


    Once again the armies of the religious right are one the march.
The very same groups that are spending millions of dollars on banning
books, censoring the media, stopping free speech and legislating
bigotry have suddenly tried a new tactic.  It seems they would have us
believe that they suddenly have discovered the first amendment and
are converts. They would have us believe that they are exceptionally
concerned with the rights of free speech for students in the public
schools. One can only wonder how they can have the gall to expect the
rest of the country to believe this in the face of their virtual
assault on the civil rights of so many other groups.

    Their ploy is this: The Supreme Court rightfully banned school
prayer on the basis that public schools are an arm of the government;
and prayer as a school policy was nothing less than a government
establishment of that religion as an officially state sanctioned
one.  The religious right was therefore left with the quandary of how
to force others to pray to their god without appearing to use the
government to do so.  They have seized on the idea that as long as
it is "supposed" to be a student lead prayer it is merely a matter of
free speech.  They feel that if they call it "non-sectarian" prayer
(which to them means a non-denominational Christian prayer) then
nobody could possibly object. However, the mere mention in one of
these public school prayers of Buddha, Mohammed, Shiva, or Satan
would no doubt make them apoplectic. You can bet money that they will
feel quite free to mention Jesus in their prayers.  The obvious
double standard of their position is yet another glaring example of
the sickening hypocrisy displayed by the right wing religious
fundamentalist movement.

     I for one cannot believe they really see this as an issue of
rights. For if the rights really concerned them, why would these
groups spend millions on crusades to remove the rights of
homosexuals?  If they are really concerned with rights why are they
advocating book banning?  If they are really concerned with rights
why are they working to restrict the rights of non-christian
worshipers? If they are really concerned with rights why do they work
to remove the right to burn the flag?  If they are really concerned
with rights, why do they spend so much money to censor art galleries?
If they are really concerned with rights, why do they spend so much
time and effort trying to censor the media?  How can they expect us
to suddenly believe they want to be a great force for freedom?  Any
citizen or elected official that falls for such an obvious and
cynical ploy almost deserves to live in the theocracy these people
would like to create.  Since there is no way to do this without
forcing the rest of us to also live in this freedomless state we must
oppose this policy.

     As it stands now, every person has the right to pray in school as
long as they don't force it upon others.  That policy is sound and
should not be changed.  I find it disingenuous at best when people
claim that they cannot pray properly unless they get to use the
public address system and force everyone else to join in or listen.
That is nothing less then a form of brainwashing by rote repetition.
There is no possible prayer that can accommodate all of our nation's
diverse religious beliefs.  Even the mention of "God" would tell
atheists, agnostics, deists, and polytheists that their s is not the
officially state sanctioned system of beliefs.  This is blatantly
unconstitutional, and needs to remain illegal.  If you want to or
need to pray, do so, but do not try to force me or my children, or
anyone else to join along.


   *******************************************************************
   *   (c)1994 Micheal R. Burhans\24th Century Society Publishing    *
   *   Permission for unaltered reproduction and dissemination is    *
   *   granted as long as it is not for profit & with this notice    *
   *******************************************************************
