Prayer in school

I recently got another e-mail asking me that if I supported prayer in school I should forward it. I'm sure you have seen them time and again. I didn't forward it. I don't forward e-mails like this and I don't believe in school prayer.

Let me start by saying I am a Christian. I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. And I believe in the power of prayer.

Let's face facts. When kids stand up and recite "The Lord's Prayer they are not praying, they are reciting. You can't force anyone to pray. Prayer is a conversation between you and God, its not reciting words at the behest of a school teacher.

I recommend that before we go asking our children's teachers to take over our responsibility of the spiritual training of our children maybe we should get to know the teachers. Make sure they have the same values as we do. I mean no disrespect to teachers, think they are under paid and over worked but do they have the values you want passed on to your kids? I'm sure if you are Baptist you probably don't want the teacher passing on Catholic views, if you are Presbyterian do you want your child being taught Methodist ideology? If you are Jewish do you want a Muslim teacher teaching your children their prayers?

The spiritual training of our children is our job. Its time for us to stop trying to get congress to pass laws to force school teachers to do our jobs. I wonder of all the people that have forwarded those type e-mails have how many of them have ever gotten on their knees with their children and prayed. Really prayed, not the old standard "Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep" or the old meal blessing "God is Great, God it good". I mean actually prayed with their children?

If you want your children to start their day off with prayer, get up 10 or 15 minutes earlier, go into their room and pray with them. Don't forward an e-mail saying congress should pass a law to make a teacher so it for you.

We want to blame Madeline O'Hare for removing prayer from the public school. The truth is Ms. O'Hare wasn't the person that removed prayer from school. It was Christian parents, when we failed to help our children to develop a healthy prayer life. We we failed to put prayer in our children's lives we took prayer out of the schools.

We have problems in America and we want to a cause. A simple, easy to identify cause, and an easy solution. A solution that doesn't cost us anything or inconvenience us too much. Well some one gave us an easy target, lack of prayer in school. And they gave us an easy solution. Put prayer back in school.

Our problems aren't caused by lack of prayer in our schools. They are caused by a lack of prayer in our lives, and in our homes. And in a lot of sad cases, a lack of prayer in our churches. You want to put prayer back in our schools? You want to solve America's social problems, then put prayer back in your life. Put prayer back in your home. Put prayer back in your children's lives. Help them learn to pray.

You want a simple easy fool proof plan to put prayer back in the schools? The Pray with your kids. Teach them to pray. Help them develop a good prayer life, put prayer back into their lives and they will take that prayer with them everywhere they go, including school. And there won't be a law congress could pass, a law suit that anyone could file or a ruling that the Supreme Court could hand down that Could stop it.