The Crime of Prayer
I came across the story of some 8th graders in Lexington, Kentucky who committed such a terrible act that the local police had to be called in. The mother of a fellow student had been killed in a car accident, and so these students decided to pray for the kid who lost his mom. These students knew that they couldn’t pray during class times, so they gathered during lunch to pray. They say that the school administrators came and told them to be quiet and to sit down, but they refused. So the administration called the police to come deal with these defiant kids. The superintendent said that there was no problem with the students praying, but that they were all going to be late for class.
I have two issues with this. First of all, I’ve been in junior high schools and do you know what you’ll see a lot of? Students out of class. Some are drawing up spirit week posters, others are runners for the office, and some are wandering to the bathroom for the sixth time in an hour. To say that schools heavily enforce having students in class is a joke. My second issue is not that the school called the police, but that the police responded. What officer heard this call and determined there was a valid reason to respond?
If you thought that people were going to be happy taking prayer out of the schools, you’re mistaken. They want to take God out of the students. I do not believe it is the job of the school system to allow my child to have an opportunity to learn about Jesus. Deuteronomy 6:4-7 says, “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.” I fear that too few parents take time to sit with their kids in their house, or to take a walk with them, or to talk to them as the day ends or begins. Our children have become as busy as we are. Have we neglected to teach them about Jesus Christ and just hope they pick it up somewhere else? Because they won’t.
I commend these students, and I hope their parents fully supported them. Their cause is not less important because they are younger. I’m thankful that we have young people who are willing to take a stand for something that they really believe in. If one of my children ever has the police called on them because they take a stand for their faith, you better believe my wife and I will be standing with them.
#1 from Mary Cahoon on March 25, 2009
Totally agree with you. More parents of school-age children should be so involved with them, teaching them about the Bible, salvation, Jesus and prayer that such a stance would be automatic. In fact, with children of any age.