Perry backs prayer
By Matt Stiver
Special to the Skiff

Students in their early teens filed slowly into the auditorium. Five weeks after terrorism had reached the shores of their country, the students of Palestine Middle School came to hear the Texas governor offer some advice.

They heard him offer something else, something that would revitalize a question argued in America since the 1780s.

Ben Andrews/SKIFF STAFF High school students at University Baptist Church bow their heads in prayer at a weekly youth group meeting Wednesday night.

While visiting Palestine Middle School on Oct. 18, Gov. Rick Perry participated in a prayer session. In statements following the school-wide assembly and comments made in the following weeks, the governor expressed his belief that open prayer should be allowed in Texas public schools, regardless of Supreme Court rulings.

With that statement, the governor reawakened a debate that has raged for decades: What is the place of prayer in public schools? Activists on both sides of the issue, around the nation, have both campaigned loudly for their causes. Both proponents and opponents of prayer in school point to the U. S. Constitution, Supreme Court rulings and the intent of America’s founders.

Perry said he intended to make returning organized prayer to public schools a campaign issue. Perry officially announced his bid for reelection Jan. 8.

“Why can’t we say a prayer at a football game or a patriotic event like we held in Palestine Middle School?” Perry told The Associated Press Oct. 22. “I don’t understand the logic of that. I happen to think it was appropriate.”

Political strategists find it hard to fault the governor’s thinking. Even his Democratic opponent in 2002, Tony Sanchez, has voiced limited support of prayer in public schools.

“Texas tends to be a conservative state, both politically and religiously,” strategist Brian Eppstein said. “Prayer in school is a popular issue among conservatives, so the governor shored up his base and started reaching deeper in East Texas. Even if he backs off the issue later, he has already increased his standing among a constituency that votes in high percentages.”

Stephanie Klick, vice-chairwoman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, said public response to the governor’s proposal has been positive.

“Our polling data shows that at this time in our history, people overwhelmingly support prayer in schools,” Klick said. “The governor is standing up for what he believes.”

Samantha Smoot, executive director of the Texas Freedom Network, said Perry’s proposal could backfire on school-prayer advocates.

“They are opening a door and assuming the prayer will be Christian,” said Smoot, whose organization monitors the activity of religious-based organizations. “What will they say if, one day, a prayer read in a school is not?”

Neither Perry, his spokespeople or Art Bender, chairman of the Tarrant County Democratic Party, returned interview requests.

Perry has revitalized an issue frequently and hotly debated across the nation. The question of school-sponsored prayer in public schools centers on constitutional law and the interpretation of the intent of America’s founders regarding the interplay of religion and the state. Some argue the role of religion in schools funded with taxpayer dollars, while others point to the decline of morals in America.

Those on both sides of the issue point to 1962, when the Supreme Court heard a case challenging the constitutionality of prayer in New York public schools. At that time, a state board of education ruling required the reading of a prayer at the start of each school day. Students would recite the Pledge of Allegiance and following prayer: “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence on thee, and we beg thy blessings on us, our parents, our teachers and our country.”

In Engel v. Vitale (1962), the Supreme Court ordered that the ruling violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment. The First Amendment forbids any establishment of religion by the state.

Since that time, social and religious conservatives have fought to return prayer to school in a more tangible way.

The 1992 Equal Access Act requires that public schools allowing any non-curriculum, student-led club must offer access to all religions and beliefs. The act allowed voluntary student-led prayer groups to meet on-campus.

Ronald Flowers, professor of religion and holder of the Weatherly Chair, said no ruling by the Supreme Court or any law could remove God from schools.

“I’ve always said as long as there are math tests, there will be prayer in public schools,” Flowers said. “If a student wants to pray before a math test, that’s fine. As long as it is not disruptive to others or forcing others to participate.”

Kenneth Stevens, associate professor of history at TCU, said state-sponsored prayer in public schools violates the Constitution.

“When you allow sponsored prayer, you’re moving toward establishment,” Stevens said. “One of the things that makes this country exceptional and keeps us from having the kinds of problems they have in other countries is that we have religious freedom. When you make a big deal about school prayer, you are moving toward establishing a religion.”

That belief, however, has been contested.

“Allowing a brief prayer or a moment of silence before the school day begins does not in any way constitute an established religion,” said Samuel Duncan, pastor of First Calvary Church in Fort Worth. “There is a difference between allowing students to pray, voluntarily, in a school and the government endorsing a religion.”

While Flowers agreed with the decline in American morality since World War II, he would not place it on lack of prayer in public schools.

A lack of state-sponsored religion and organized school prayer has done little to hinder religious belief in America, Flowers said.

“There is more overt religious expression in the United States than in any other country,” Flowers said. “I would say that is because the government stays out of religion. On any given Sunday in England, which has the state-sponsored Anglican Church, only 10 percent of the population attends a church service. In America that number is close to 35 percent.”

Proponents of the organized prayer in school seek an inclusive, non-denominational prayer. Duncan said a prayer addressing all faiths, with careful crafting, is possible.

Flowers said the pluralism of American society prevents such a prayer.

“Catholics, Jews, Muslims and those outside the Protestant mainstream would just not buy it,” Flowers said. “What you would get is a prayer so watered down that it would not have any theological content. That is something, I think, most would find offensive.”

“It’s hard for students in elementary and middle school to say they don’t want to participate,” Stevens said.

Supporters on both sides of the issue also claim the support of America’s founders.

Stevens said the founders, weary of experiences during the Colonial Period, specifically meant for religion to be separate from public institutions.

“During the Colonial Period, people in Virginia had to support the Anglican Church whether they wanted to or not,” Stevens said. “It is not a matter of driving God from public schools. It’s a matter of not forcing people to recognize a particular view of God.”

Those on both sides of the school prayer issue said the debate will continue whether or not Perry wins.

“It’s been 220 years, and honestly I think people will always talk about the role of God and religion in school,” Duncan said. “But there will not be a war about it, and that is what is great about America.”

Matt Stiver
skiffletters@tcu.edu

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