The Istook threat - amendment that would allow prayer in public places - Column

Humanist, Sept-Oct, 1997 by John M. Swomley

It is always useful to contrast the politics of right-wing Christians with the statements of Jesus. In doing so, it becomes clear how uncommitted some Christians are to their religion and how devoted they are to foisting on the nation a theocracy of their own making. Such is the case with the Istook amendment now before Congress.

To illustrate this contradiction, the following is the teaching of Jesus as reported in Matthew 6:1-6 of the Bible:

Beware of practicing your piety

before men in order to be seen by

them.... And when you pray, you

must not be like the hypocrites,

for they love to stand in the

synagogues and in the ... streets, that

they may be seen by men. Truly I

say to you, they have their

reward. But when you pray, go

into your room and shut the door,

pray ... in secret.

The Bible also tells us in Luke 18:10-13 how "two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican." The pharisee let it be known that he was a virtuous man, while the publican said, "God, be merciful to me a sinner."

Compare these teachings with the language in the istook amendment:

To secure the right to

acknowledge God according to the

dictates of conscience, the people's

right to pray and to recognize

their religious beliefs, heritage, or

traditions on public property,

including schools, shall not be

infringed. The government shall not

require any person to join in

prayer or other religious

activities, initiate or designate school

prayers, discriminate against

religion or deny equal access to a

benefit on account of religion.

We can call the two men responsible for the Istook amendment re-publicans -- not only because of their party affiliation but because they have revised the publican's and the biblical attitude toward prayer to fit their political purposes. They want every child in public school to be able to pray aloud and every politician to be able to pray aloud on public property where they can emphasize their piety as a cover for whatever else they do, as well as be seen as benefactors of religious institutions.

The first of these men is Representative Ernest Istook of Oklahoma. Fundamentalist Ernie is known for advocating rhetorical praying as evidence of his political virtue, instead of good works like providing food for the hungry, health care for children of poor parents, and adequate funds for inner-city public schools. Fundamentalist Ernie also has tried for years to be known as the "Father of Public School Prayer," but he's been thwarted by another re-publican: Representative Henry Hyde of Illinois, a papal loyalist.

Holy Henry has been known as the most loyal advocate of government aid to his church, which is not only the world's largest but richest. Henry would not let Ernie have his political prayers until Ernie agreed to include government funding for religious purposes. Ernie yielded and accepted Henry's clause: "or deny equal access to a benefit on account of religion." But Henry's religious loyalty is not confined to wanting all taxpayers to fund his church's schools and other enterprises; it includes constitutional protection for his church's attitude toward women, as well as abortion and family planning.

Since Henry and Ernie have long objected to the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights -- whose establishment clause prevents government support of religion -- it is prudent to examine the implications of their proposed amendment.

First, they have not explicitly excluded the prayers of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and others, perhaps because they assume that the majority religion in almost every community would intimidate one or more minority students from articulating their unique public prayers. However, Muslims are expected to pray five times daily, and if no religious discrimination is permitted, these, plus numerous Protestant fundamentalist prayers, can take a large part of the day away from academic subjects. Currently, there are nearly two thousand different denominations, sects, and cults in the United States, and Muslims -- numbering over five million -- are the fastest growing group.

Second, if the clause "to recognize their religious beliefs, heritage, or traditions on public property, including schools" is taken seriously, it goes beyond daily periods of prayer to permit daily devotional readings, creeds, exposition of religious history, religious biography, and dogma. It could, in effect, turn public schools into religious day schools with more overt religious expression than is usually permitted in parochial schools, if only because of the various religious traditions represented in most public schools.

Third, there are also racial undertones to the amendment. Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam will have the same status as Southern Baptists. Charismatic and evangelical Hispanics, as well as Native Americans, have their distinctive religious traditions. Are Christian militias and the Ku Klux Klan religious? Must teachers or school boards decide or will the American Civil Liberties Union have a field day raising money and litigating claims?