Louisiana time warp

Church & State, Jun 2000 by Boston, Rob

The newspaper is less enthusiastic about publishing opposing views. After Gary Sloan, a resident of nearby Ruston, published several letters criticizing the beliefs of fundamentalist Christians, the paper announced that it would no longer print any letters on the question "Does God exist?"

Sloan told Church & State the paper continues to publish letters promoting Christianity but that his writings promoting skepticism of fundamentalism are no longer welcome. "I thought the new policy was pretty well directed at me," he said. `Around here, lots of the fundamentalists say this is the buckle of the Bible Belt."

Local pro-prayer clergy acted quickly to exploit community sentiment. They pulled together an inter-faith coalition and on Jan. 30 hosted a pro-school prayer rally at the high school football stadium. More than 15,000 people turned out for the event, which featured a towering cross hovering over the crowd and a large "prayer circle" formed by adults around local school students.

The keynote speaker at the rally was William J. Murray, son of atheist Madalyn Murray-O'Hair, who filed one of the lawsuits that removed mandatory prayer from public schools in the early 1960s.

Murray, who has converted to evangelical Christianity and now calls himself an "evangelist," told the crowd that his mother "was simply wrong, and I see how her ideas have done wrong to the nation. Atheism doesn't work, and it's only by the grace of God that I am on the right side of the fence today."

Murray, who is fond of rhetorical excess, also told the crowd, "The ACLU is not our enemy - our enemy is Satan."

Even though federal courts have repeatedly struck down state-sponsored prayer, Murray insisted that the school can win the case, remarking, "It's been won before, and we can win again."

Also appearing at the rally was Mathew Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, a Religious Right legal group based in Orlando, Fla. Staver volunteered to help the school board after reading about the case on the World Wide Web. During the rally, he received an enthusiastic welcome from local school officials and blasted the high court decision striking down mandatory prayer in schools. "If we don't sow morality and virtue [in schools]," he said, "we are going to reap immorality and chaos."

During the CBS documentary, Staver argued that the prayers are really just another form of student announcement. He also insisted that non-Christian prayers could be recited, though he admitted none ever have.

Several members of the Ouachita School Board attended the rally and during the event pledged continued defiance. "We are going to do everything we can to ensure we keep student-led prayer in West Monroe High School and Ouachita Parish," said Manley, the school board vice president.

Board president Jack White agreed. The rally, he said, made an important statement. "I hm sure we got someone's attention," White remarked. "If not God's, we got the people's who are against us."

School officials also got a little help from the state capital in Baton Rouge. Days before the rally, Gov. Foster issued a proclamation declaring the state's support for prayer in schools.