Prayer in School

The next time someone mentions wanting prayer in the schools, ask, “What kind of prayer?”

When Christian Fundamentalists say prayer, they mean “a prayer like the kind I pray, said in much the same way as I would say it, and led by the same sort of people who lead it at the church I attend.”

The church I grew up in taught women shouldn’t lead men in prayer. We wanted prayer in schools. We didn’t want women leading them.

Here’s an idea: let’s put prayer back in schools! On Monday, we’ll pray to Ra, the Egyptian god of the sun. On Tuesday, we’ll recite Islamic prayers to Allah. On Wednesday, we’ll pray to Holy Father — the Mormon god “formerly known as Adam.” On Thursday, we’ll say a Buddhist prayer. On Friday, we’ll pray to the Goddess, or an incarnation of Mother Earth.

“Don’t be stupid,” a fundamentalist would reply. “I mean prayers to the only true God … the Christian God.”

(So much for the Jews, I guess.)

Don’t fall for the “prayer in schools” trick. When someone says he wants prayer back in the schools, always ask, “Which kind?”