Sometimes the Lord has a way of checking us out to see if we are “real” or not. He makes us answer the question, “Are you practicing what you’re preaching?”
I recently wrote an article for our church bulletin entitled “Freedom” in which I decried the loss of freedom to recite a prayer and read the Bible in our public schools. The accuracy of my information was respectfully challenged by someone affiliated with our school system. I was asked to read an article published on the U.S. Department of Education web site entitled Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools. I was happy to do so and then spent a considerable amount of time researching additional sites for information on the topic of education and religion.
My findings led me to realize that I need to go back and amend a portion of my article. I made the statement, “…in 1962 our Supreme Court took away my freedom to recite a prayer in school and the next year that same court took away my freedom to read the Bible at school.” I painted with too big a brush. Let me go back with a little more detailed brush:
In 1962, the Supreme Court ruled (Engel v. Vitale) that official prayer had no place in public education. The court did not rule that students are forbidden to pray on their own; the justices said that government officials had no business composing a prayer for students to recite.
In the following year, 1963, the Supreme Court handed down another important ruling dealing with prayer in public schools. In Abington Township School District v. Schempp, the court declared school-sponsored Bible reading and recitation of the Lord’s Prayer unconstitutional.
In 1995, the U.S. Department of Education issued a statement of guidelines intended to alleviate concerns about constitutional religious activities in schools. These guidelines, which were sent to every public school in the nation, stressed that students have the right to pray or to discuss their religious views with their peers so long as they are not disruptive. The guidelines continued by stating that public schools are prohibited from sponsoring worship or pressuring students to pray, meditate, read religious texts or take part in other religious activities. And, further, each school district is required to file a written statement with the state board of education each year stating that it has no policies which interfere with students’ religious rights.
In the process of trying to apply the Supreme Court rulings, there has been a myriad of headlines and lawsuits as individual schools and school boards seek to apply these laws. For instance, the July 10, 2008 edition of the Houston Chronicle newspaper contained an article entitled “Abbot finds public school Bible course not unconstitutional.” The Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott ruled that a proposed Bible course for public schools would not violate the First Amendment.
So I am happy to correct my statements in the earlier article saying that prayer and Bible reading are no longer permitted in public schools.
And a word to the individual who respectfully encouraged me to reconsider the factuality of my article: I appreciate your attitude and the manner in which you confronted me with your concerns. You were afraid that I would be offended. My whole life is about trying to help us compare our beliefs with the truth of God’s word. I encourage others to acknowledge and correct our understanding and our lives when we find ourselves out of line with the truth.

My grandmother used to say, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”
- Ken Stegall