The religious right claims we have “taken God out of our school,” resulting in widespread immorality and wickedness in our society. Is that a valid claim? Let us consider the facts as we look at our nation’s history and where we are today.
Teacher-led prayer in public schools, teaching Bible stories in the classroom, and display of religious symbols in schools have becomecontentious matters only in the last few decades. Prior to the social conservative movement initiated by Jerry Falwell and his Moral Majority some thirty years ago, few of our citizens objected to such religious trappings in public schools. Religion was thus allowed to be a small part of our public school system, and one could rightfully say God was in our schools. Was America a more moral, merciful, and just nation through all those early years? After all, we had the Bible, God in our schools, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights to guide us throughout our nation’s history.
But, were our Christian forefathers moral and just as they slaughtered large numbers of Native Americans, confiscated their lands, and defaulted on numerous treaty agreements? And, what constitutional rights did those Native Americans enjoy? Only white male landowners could vote in the early history of our country, and it was not until 1920 that white women won the right to vote. African Americans were not allowed to vote until after Reconstruction, and even then all kinds of rigged rules and procedures prevented most of them from voting. Could one honestly say America was fair and just in determining who could cast a ballot?
White Christian Americans owned African American slaves until shortly after the Civil War, during the time God was in our schools. Could we classify the cruel and inhuman treatment of those slaves as moral, merciful, and just? The best-known white supremacist organization in our country since the Civil War is the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), made up primarily of white Christian males. Those religious thugs terrorized African American neighborhoods throughout the deep south, burned crosses in front of people’s homes and churches, torched those same homes and churches, lynched black men, and raped black women and girls. I would not consider the KKK’s treatment of African Americans as moral and just.
There were essentially two justice systems in our country’s early history, one for white people and one for people of color. The judges, attorneys, and juries were all-white, and racism dictated judicils outcomes for legal proceedings involving African Americans. Black people were convicted of crimes they did not commit, white folks were found innocent of crimes committed against black people, and African Americans’ property was confiscated or stolen through rigged legal proceedings. That judicial oppression of black people was neither fair nor just, and it took place while God was in our schools’ classrooms.
What does America’s past tell us about our present? Perhaps it tells us that religious trappings are not as important as what is in our hearts. Our conduct toward others is a reflection of our internal attitudes, biases, desires, and motivations. State-sanctioned prayer, religious symbols, and religious expressions in our public schools are merely external things which have relatively little impact on our vital relationships with others.
Our logical conclusion must be that eliminating state-sanctioned prayer in public schools, display of religious symbols in our schools, and religious expressions in the classroom has not caused all the immorality and wickedness permeating our society. Then what has? That is an extremely difficult question best left for sociologists, but allow me to suggest a few possibilities.
Mandatory military service (the draft) was discontinued during the Viet Nam War era, relieving our young people of the patriotic obligation to serve our country. Public television burst into our midst, exposing our youth and adults to increasing levels of violence, immorality, greed, corruption, and self-gratification. Special-interest groups and corporations with big money and selfish interests gained control of our politicians and our government. Greed and corruption became firmly entrenched in our way of life and in our relationships with one another. As a people, we have become more and more self-centered. Could all those things contribute to the decay of our society over the last few decades?
Herschel Hill’s book, PLEASING GOD: THE JESUS AGENDA, contains an in-depth discussion of the role of religion in our public schools and in the political realm of our society. It is available through bookstores, amazon.com, and other internet sites. It can also be purchased directly from the author at a reduced price through this webpage.
