Comments on: Prayest in thy closet…not thy classroom.

By: Chris Henrichsen

Chris Henrichsen — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:29:48 +0000

“12.A few years back I listened to tapes of the Greatest Presidential Speeches of the 20th Century, and FDR and Eisenhower each ended one of their speeches by leading the nation in prayer, a bit like Gordon Hinckley once did with the Church in General Conference. ”

Does it make me one of “non-religious,” because I think that sounds more creepy than cool. I am all for a form of civic religion, like Rousseau, I find much of what passes for religion to be divisive. Yet, I am not sure if that is what most religious folks are looking for.

By: Matt W.

Matt W. — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:50:32 +0000

Well said Mansfield.

By: John Mansfield

John Mansfield — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:34:49 +0000

A few years back I listened to tapes of the Greatest Presidential Speeches of the 20th Century, and FDR and Eisenhower each ended one of their speeches by leading the nation in prayer, a bit like Gordon Hinckley once did with the Church in General Conference. A public gesture like that requires some goodwill from all sides. The non-religious have to put up the prevailing sentiments of their countrymen. The religious have to not think of such displays as some triumph over non-believers. That goodwill seems absent today on either side, which is a bit of loss for us.

“And again, I command thee that thou shalt pray vocally as well as in thy heart; yea, before the world as well as in secret, in public as well as in private.”—D&C 19:28

By: annegb

annegb — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:01:02 +0000

I have mixed emotions about this, because there are probably kids who would be sincere and benefit. Prayer is powerful. I can see, though, how it could turn out to be a competition against who’s more spiritual. Probably not a good idea.

By: kew

kew — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:29:25 +0000

I always thought praying in school was a sign of self-righteousness on the part of the controlling party. I was most annoyed by the BYU professors (outside the Religion dept) that started every class with a prayer than those that just stuck to the subject matter.

By: Jay

Jay — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 12:55:13 +0000

I grew up in a predominantly LDS community and we did not have prayer in our schools — except at our graduation ceremony. And if my memory serves me correctly, those prayers were offered by a Protestant and a Jew. So, for a long time, I saw nothing wrong with prayer as long as it was inclusive and not exclusive. But in so much of the country, the issue is not really prayer or religion but power. The Texas case is a perfect example. And then you get into questions of what constitutes a religion, should witches be able to pray, should Scientilogists be allowed to pray, what about those who have no religion etc. In the end, keeping prayer out of schools where it would be seen as school-sponsored or endorsed seems like a pretty good idea.

By: oudenos

oudenos — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:23:32 +0000

Wouldn’t it be rad if Randy B. were Randy Bott, the most popular professor in Ratemyprofessor.com history!?

By: Matt W.

Matt W. — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 06:18:40 +0000

I went to private schools all the way up to college and had prayer and mass as part of my school curriculum. I do not think it was just to be seen of man. I guess it can become that. It was just part of our communal identity, like the moment of silence is now for my daughter at school. (I do encourage to say a private prayer in that moment of silence.) I think public prayer is mainly about community, not politics.

By: sister blah 2

sister blah 2 — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 04:20:33 +0000

“not a hotbed of Mormon friendliness”

That’s the rub though, isn’t it? Maybe you’ve heard of this case: http://www.libertymagazine.org/index.php?id=458 brought by an LDS family and a Catholic family, which made its way all the way to SCOTUS. The HS started football games with a prayer, but somehow the prayer was always offered by the majority southern Baptists, not by the Mormon or Catholic.

The case, which ended up banning prayer at public HS football games, enraged a lot of conservative Mormons (the “worst thing since legalizing abortion” folks), but I think a lot of conservative Mormons are too quick to forget that when you trample on the minority…that might someday be you.

By: Sam B.

Sam B. — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:13:05 +0000

Chris,
I totally agree with you. Of course, I grew up in secular Southern California, and didn’t even realize that anyone wanted prayer in schools (until I was at BYU and, it turned out, some of my classmates thought that taking prayer out of public schools was the worst thing since legalizing abortion).

The funny thing is, my wife totally doesn’t get why I find it so horrible. She grew up in the South (not a hotbed of Mormon friendliness), and had prayer starting her school days (which, at some point, became moments of silence with the lights turned out) and starting football games. She finds the idea of prayer in school totally noncontroversial. Weird, huh?