The School Prayer Fallacy

A cunning lawyer, who finds the evidence in a case going against him, drums up a trivial and even unrelated issue to divert attention from the flaws in his major argument.

The scenario originally written for the Marines in Lebanon called for President Reagan to make a cowboy ride to force the Lebanese to be good boys and quit fighting. He would “show the flag” and all factions and nations would immediately obey the dictates of the great power across the sea.

The trouble with all this was that the other characters in the drama just didn’t follow the script. After all, they hadn’t been asked about the story line. The Marines went in not as mediators in a family fight, but as partisans and supporters of one faction. As such they become opponents of the other faction and targets for blows in the bloody warfare. Two hundred sixty nine of them were killed. Even then the President was blind to the fact that the scenario was stupid. Finally he had to surrender, and instead of showing the flag he had to dip it and get out. He did order the battleships to throw a bunch of shells at some villages. According to reports, the shells hit no military targets but did kill a hundred or more civilians.

Thus far administration officials have given eight contradictory statements – two of them by Reagan himself – about why the Marines went to Lebanon, what happened there, and why they were pulled out. Obviously, no one in the administration has learned the difference between the real world and the never-never land of movie fantasy in which Reagan plays.

To get our minds off his failure Reagan, on February 25, again raised the emotional, but irrational issue of prayer in the public schools. He said, “Can it be true that the First Amendment can permit Nazis and Klansmen to march on public property – while the same amendment forbids saying a prayer in school.” The comparison is full of fallacies. First, the Amendment does not forbid anyone from saying a prayer in school, providing it does not interfere with school routine. A child may bow his head and pray privately at any time. Secondly, there is a restriction on the parades of Nazis and Klansmen – they must get a permit and limit interference with normal citizen activity. Thirdly, prayer in school has a captive audience while a street parade has no such grip on a group on which to inflict its beliefs.

The President betrays his limited intellect by advocating “voluntary vocal prayer”. This means praying aloud. It makes sure that persons other than the one praying will hear the prayer. However, since the purpose of such a prayer is to be its effect on other people – else why pray aloud – it is doubtful if God will pay much attention to it. The whole thing is one step toward thought control so desired by narrow minds.

To which God shall prayer be offered? To Jehovah of the Old Testament who ordered the destruction of enemies of His people? To Allah, who commands a Holy War against infidels? To Buddha, sitting in quiet contemplation and resignation? To the spirits of one’s ancestors? To Krishna or Vishnu? To Christ, who commanded “Love your enemies”? And who will write the prayer?

The real purpose of Reagan’s plea is not so much to honor God, nor to save soul, but to garner votes for the President in November. To do this he panders to the prejudices of the uninformed and the unthinking.

Jesus has some words on the subject, recorded in Matthew 6:5-8. “When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the streets that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward (Comment: they get credit for being religious). But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And in praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them.” No authority of the state interferes with the kind of prayer Jesus instructs His disciples to use. The advocated of “vocal prayer” in public schools violate Christ’s commands.