Old Days
I was born in 1956, in Cincinnati, Ohio. We lived in a residential section of the city called Clifton, just north of the University and near the Zoo. Clifton had (and still has) a small business section, from the corner of Clifton and Ludlow. Mom didn’t drive, so we walked a lot; to the movie theatre on Ludlow (with air conditioning) the Graeter’s Ice Cream next door, and the IGA grocery across the street. And when I got old enough, I’d follow my sisters to Clifton School, a couple of blocks up Clifton Avenue. It was “old” even then, with a beautiful fountain in front of the building, originally designed for the tram horses, dogs and people to get water back in 1887. It’s still there today.
I went to kindergarten at the Clifton School “annex” in 1960. To get to school we had to pass The Annunciation Roman Catholic Church. Kids went to school there too. I remember wondering why they weren’t “good enough” to go to Clifton was us. And while we moved to Michigan for my first grade year, by second grade we were back, in 1962.
The Lord’s Prayer
All of that time, it wasn’t unusual for my teachers to tell Bible stories, or even start the day with the Lord’s Prayer. It didn’t seem odd or different to me; they were the same prayers and stories I heard right down the street at Calvary Episcopal Church on Sundays, as I squirmed in the pew and Dad struggled, and usually failed, to stay awake. (Now that I’m older, I appreciate his struggle so much more!!).
What I didn’t know then, was that the Supreme Court was already in the process of ending teacher led “religious instruction” in schools. In 1962 and ’63, there were a series of cases where the Court found that prayer and Bible stories were in violation of the First Amendment religious freedom clause. It was actually simple reasoning: my second grade teacher, Mrs. Meyer, was employed by the Cincinnati Public Schools, the “government”. And when she led us in the Lord’s Prayer, she was, in fact, the “government” teaching a specific religious belief, something that the “establishment clause” of the First Amendment prohibited.
So by 1963 teachers no longer told Bible parables, and no longer began their classes in prayer. But, for the next couple of years, they did allow some students to leave, once a week, for an hour of religious instruction. We’d walk past the fountain up Clifton Avenue, make the hazardous crossing over to Calvary Church, and spend an hour in the basement learning about religion. I don’t know if kids went to other churches, or synagogues, then as well. My friends mostly went to Calvary, or they stayed at school. But that ended as well. Courts ruled that the school was still “establishing” religion by allowing “school time” for specific religious instruction.
Pray in School
It stayed that way for my public education. We moved to Kettering near Dayton, and then back to the Cincinnati suburb of Wyoming. Religious instruction by the school was banned. But that didn’t mean we didn’t learn about religion.
There was a lot of student-to-student instruction. And, in a highly academic school like Wyoming there were lots of choices. The early 1970’s was an era of Christian evangelism, and there were lunchroom discussions of who was going to Hell. There were also Jewish kids, who seemed to know more about the Old Testament Bible than anyone else. Then there were the “new age” kids, those that fell into the Hare Krishna’s or the Moonies or the other cult religions of the early 70’s. And there were a lot of kids (me included) who were skeptical about the whole concept of religion. We were often the targets of all of the others evangelistic ideas.
So there was always religion in school, and prayer in school as well. The old saying is; “As long as there are tests there will be prayer in school”. And that’s true. Kids could pray, kids could talk, kids could even instruct. But the institution, the government, wasn’t allowed to have “a hand” in the game. Schools were the government, and had to be neutral on religion.
Government Employee
When I became a public school teacher and coach, I was very aware of the boundaries of the “establishment clause”. I taught about it to my senior government students. My “daring” lesson plan opened with a recitation of a prayer: “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare, Hare, Krishna, Krishna”. Students in those days at my school, Watkins Memorial in Pataskala, didn’t recognize what religion that represented. (Today there is a strong minority of West Asian students who know their own religions well). And almost every time, some kid would finally say “You can’t do that!!”. So the lesson would begin.
And as a coach, I often had athletes want to pray before a competition. That was always their choice, but my coaches and I stayed out of that “huddle”. We had a full-team huddle were I did my best to inspire and prepare them for the contest (followed by “1-2-3, KSA”), but any religious gathering was on their own. They could pray if they wanted; we, the “government” (employed by the school) could not “establish” religion.
Taking a Side
Today, I’m saddened to see that the government is now “taking a hand”. Our divisive politics are blended with religious extremism, so much so that, for many, their political view includes “not discriminating” against their accepted religion. So the majority in many areas determined that schools should be “free” to teach their religion, or at least, make at convenient for their particular religious ideas to be taught.
No, teachers aren’t starting the school day in prayer, yet. But our community, state, and nation, are starting down the slippery slope of “establishment”. The Supreme Court now allows a coach to kneel in the middle of the football field in prayer at the end of the game, full lights on and the band playing. Sure, he’s practicing his own religion, but he’s teaching by example with the full regalia of “the government” on his side. His players join him, some from sincere belief, some going along with the crowd, some in hopes of getting in the starting lineup next week.
Cool Kid Time
And here in Ohio (and other states), an Evangelical Christian group has persuaded the Governor and state legislature to require school districts to allow them to “voluntarily” take kids out of school for religious instruction, much as I did back in the mid-1960’s. The school is giving up its time to a religion, a mere step away from endorsement, establishment, of religion. And from a kid’s standpoint, if the school says it’s OK, doesn’t it mean that it’s OK? Is that same school district going to allow the Church of Satanism to do the same – pull up in a bright red bus, to take kids away for “instruction”? And if they aren’t – well – what is “established” then?
Of course, the Christian group wants to make their “pullout” a “cool time” for kids. They are, after all, evangelistic, wanting to spread the “good word” of their belief to the world. Why wouldn’t any third grader want to be one of the “cool kids” who get out of school. And that’s all well and good, except, they are doing it on public school time, and with the actual “blessing” of the school district, the government.
Sacred Trust
What’s the problem? What about all of those Jewish and Muslims and Buddhists and Hindus and Agnostics and Atheists in the public schools here in Pataskala. The district has “blessed” one group, giving them the sacred trust of custody of children during the school day. What does that say to the other kids of other religions? Not only has the local government “taken a side”, but the State legislature and even the new Lieutenant Governor have “put a thumb” on the scale of government and religion.
It’s the job, more importantly, it’s the duty, of the schools to protect the First Amendment right of ALL of the children (and parents and taxpayers like me) in a community. It is the sacred trust of the schools to teach religious freedom, not a religious belief. Where does our fall down the slippery slope end? It must be with a “special class” of kids who are “right”, and a second class set of kids who aren’t.
That’s not what schools are about. But it is what our schools are becoming.
