DESPITE COURTS, MAJORITY OF AMERICANS FAVOR SCHOOL PRAYER

Can students pray -- on their own -- in school?

If praying is sanctioned by the school and conducted on school grounds, probably not. If the prayers are initiated by students on their own, the answer is murky. The confusion has prompted what some call religious warfare in the nation's public schools.

The U.S. Supreme Court hasn't helped. Earlier this week, the high court let stand -- without comment -- a Mississippi court ruling that overturned a state law allowing students to lead group prayers in public school classrooms, assemblies and at sporting events. The lower court declared the 1994 Mississippi law a violation of the constitutionally required separation of church and state.

But the high court's action was not a ruling on the merits of the Mississippi law and set no national precedence. Another problem was that the Mississippi law implied official sanction by the schools. Hopefully, the lower courts won't extend the ruling to legitimate student-initiated voluntary prayer and worship, such as prayer clubs.

With each court ruling -- whether it applies directly or not -- schools are becoming more and more wary of any activity evenly remotely connected with religion or prayer. And who could blame them? No taxpayer wants to see a school district waste thousands of dollars in attorney fees in a lawsuit over school prayer.

That fear may force any student-initiated prayer activity out into the parking lot. But where is the fairness in that? What happened to the First Amendment rights of students who want to pray -- whether it is in church, at home or in school?

It is no wonder that parochial-school attendance is booming across the country. Many parents seem to embrace an atmosphere where morals count, and prayer is not only allowed but encouraged.

When it comes to prayer, the minority rules in our public schools. Baccalaureates have been moved from school grounds to local sponsorship instead of school sanction. Prayers have been eliminated from graduation ceremonies and other functions. Yet poll after poll shows that the majority of Americans favor voluntary prayer in public schools.

Each September, students coast-to-cast rally around the flag pole in a day of prayer. Students in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City participate locally on school grounds before the start of classes.

Schools aren't the only place where people take the separation of church and state too far. America is becoming far removed from the faith of our Founding Fathers.

One local example surfaced in 1995 when a Wisconsin-based group of atheists calling themselves the Freedom From Religion Foundation demanded a inconspicuous cross at the edge of Kingshighway be removed. The cross commemorates the visit nearly 300 years ago by French missionaries and has been part of the landscape since the 1940s. An effort by the group to have the cross moved from the highway right-of-way eventually died out. Why? Because the majority of people simply didn't agree. It was anti-religious extremism at its worst.

When it comes to prayer in schools, the majority should once again rule.