Leave it to Beaver
Like almost every other aspect of American culture, America’s religious participation is changing. It used to be that religious “diversity” in the United States was Catholic, Protestant, and a few Jews. Back then; most Americans claimed some religious affiliation, with the vast majority Christian.
It was easy in that “Leave it to Beaver” time to believe that the United States was a land of religious freedom. The teachers in elementary schools said generic Christian prayers at the beginning of the school day and at lunch and told Bible stories in class. Christmas decorations and Easter bunnies were all part of the bulletin board displays. And when a few parents who might be Jehovah’s Witnesses or Jewish objected, teachers took pride in the fact they “allowed” those students not to participate. That was freedom of religion.
School Prayer
But, of course, it wasn’t. And when fifty-six years ago the Supreme Court ruled that public schools could not advocate for any particular religion in the course of official duties, folks were outraged. How would our children learn morals if they couldn’t pray before school, or the game?
I was in third grade when the teacher led prayers stopped. They no longer had Bible study classes either, though students were still allowed to walk down to the Episcopal Church during school time. But prayer didn’t stop in schools. Kids prayed all the time, for better test scores, to not get caught, that the Principal’s arm might be tired before the paddling. I presume teachers prayed as well, but they didn’t lead students in prayer anymore.
The Locker Room
That is, except in the “sanctity” of the locker room. Like Vegas, what went on there stayed there. The coaches might swear, they might physically confront athletes, and they might pray with the team. Of course they didn’t pray for victory, at least, not officially. No, only that the team would play to it’s best, and no one would be injured.
So the Jewish, Atheist, and Muslim kids knelt in the big “huddle” and bowed their heads as the words were intoned “…in Jesus’s name we pray”. And those kids who didn’t have religious beliefs – well the hope was their exposure to prayer would bring them to an epiphany. It was about something those kids wanted badly: athletic success, playing time, “put me in Coach”. Prayer becomes a kind of a “quid pro quo”. By praying, maybe the Coach leading the prayer would gain confidence. Refuse to pray, and for sure it will be time to sit the bench. Who wants to anger the one person who controls everything that’s important?
A Different America
America is changing. Today only 43% of Americans identify as white and Christian, down from 81% forty-three years ago (PRRI). 24% of Americans identify as “unaffiliated”, and 10% believe in a non-Christian faith. It’s religion, but it’s also race, as America moves to a minority “white” nation.
And those changes are causing a rise in fear for many white Protestants. They fear that their “rights” will be taken away. It’s a fear that whites and specifically white males have felt before. The privileges that they assumed were fundamentally entitled rights back in “Beaver” times are gone, and they’ve become “the victims”.
Public School Coach
As a high school track and cross-country coach, I always led my teams in a “talk” before competition. It wasn’t religious, and it wasn’t even usually technical. Our “huddle” was to focus on the “job” of the day, and to encourage support for each other. In some years, some team members wanted to pray before competition, and did. Other team members didn’t feel comfortable with that, and they didn’t.
As the Coach, my goal was for each of my team members to begin competition physically and mentally prepared. We had our team “ritual” and each athlete had his or her individual ones as well. If prayer was part of that individual ritual, I made sure there was time for that. But it wasn’t a Coach-thing. It was an athlete thing, their choice, and their belief.
En Loco Parentis
But in our rapidly changing society, there are those who feel entitled to push their religious beliefs on others. They claim it is “tradition” or “their religious freedom”. As public school teachers, coaches, and administrators, it’s easy for them to forget that they represent “The Government,” not the old no-longer majority religious view. “The Government,” is restricted by the First Amendment phrase: “…shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
When the public school Coach leads a team in prayer, that person represents all of us. He or she stands “en loco parentis,” in place of the parents. That position doesn’t allow for a religious obligation, and the Constitution prevents a religion being “established”. Public education is required to abstain from religious education, because parents really do have the right to choose their children’s religious education. It’s not up to the Coach, or the teacher, or the government, no matter what they did back in “Beaver” times. Leading prayer is not an entitlement of a public school adult. Freedom to choose religion is an entitlement of the children.
Privilege Lost
But to many, if feels like they’ve “lost something”. They used to be able to impose their religion on everyone, in the “Beaver” times. Now, they can’t. So they feel that they’ve lost a “right,” the right to lead others to their religion. And that’s not true either. Everyone has the right to their religion, and even the right to proselytize their beliefs. They can stand of the street corner and preach, they can wear religious symbols, they can attend the church, synagogue, mosque or meeting of their choice. What they can’t do, and what they shouldn’t have been able to do in back then either; is to use the “bully pulpit” provided by government school employment to recruit or indoctrinate young people in “their” religion.
That’s the kids’ choice, and the parents’ choice. It’s not the government’s.
