Why Are We Wasting Our Time With The Lord's Prayer?

My good friend Bryce Palmer is a Baptist Pastor.  I've always had the utmost respect for him because (unless he's secretly Dexter) he lives the life he preaches about.  I fully admire people that can be committed to living the lifestyle they hope you would live.  It somehow doesn't feel like an intrusion when they aren't hypocrites.

Yesterday, on Facebook, Bryce made a great comment regarding prayer in school and why it is a bad idea.

"Religious people in America think they want prayer in schools and government, that is, until it's a prayer to Allah or any other religious god."

And he's right.  For the most part, supporters of prayer in school don't truly support prayer in school, they support Christian prayer in school.  Can you imagine the outrage if prayer in school was allowed, and little Sally and Johnny came running home telling their parents that they prayed to Allah that day?  All hell would break loose (pun intended.)

And that's exactly why prayer in school and government has been regularly ruled as unconstitutional.



 Nonetheless, State Senator Jim Tomes has introduced SB251, which allows public schools to require the Lord's Prayer be recited each day. Specifically, the bill states (emphases mine):

"In order that each student recognize the importance of spiritual development in establishing character and becoming a good citizen, the governing body of a school corporation or the equivalent authority of a charter school may require the recitation of the Lord's Prayer at the beginning of each school day."

The wording above goes to prove my above point that supporters of prayer in school only care about Christian prayer in school. If this bill was solely about building a basic spiritual development, then why would you write a bill calling for a very specific Christian prayer given to us by Jesus in the Christian Bible? If generic spiritual development was your goal, why not just call for prayer in general?

Senator Tomes (R)

The answer, of course, is that Tomes isn't interested in schools having prayer in general.  He's interested in the schools having Christian prayer.

All that is moot, though.  My question is why is Tomes bothering with this bill to begin with.  Even if it this bill should be passed, it's a waste of time and money.  As I've recently stated on another issue in another blog, this bill would have absolutely zero chance of withstanding a court battle.  Introducing this bill is introducing a bill that has no chance of ever being a standing law, and would almost definitely lead to court battles that cost the taxpayers lots and lots of money.

Amusingly, this bill has had a fiscal impact statement written for it.  It states:

"There could be some minor impact in deciding the version of the Lord's Prayer to use..."

LOL. I know it's not the job of those writing these statements to weigh in on the potential costs of court battles due to the legislation, but I still somehow find it hilarious that this sentence is used to describe the costs involved.

Senator Tomes, I agree with you that our children can use a little bit more spiritual recognition in their lives.  Let's accomplish that by encouraging parents to discuss their religion and spirituality with their children.  Let's accomplish that by being involved in our houses of worship and supporting ministries to get kids involved with.

But, please, let's not do that by introducing legislation that has no chance of being anything but a drain on taxpayers' time and money with no chance of ever being law.  C'mon...you know better.

• Thank's to Masson's Blog for tipping me off to this bill's introduction.
• If you live in the Evansville, Indiana area and are looking for a church to call home, please look Bryce up.  I'm sure he'll be happy to help you in your search.