LETTERS: SCHOOL BIAS: REFLECT THE COMMUNITY

To the editor:

I have been reading about a court case in Alabama that deals with government involvement in religion. The case involves a justice telling schools that they can't have any officially sanctioned religious activity in the schools. He even says that he will send marshals of the court out to the schools to ensure that no school violates his ruling. The case came about because a school had allowed the Gideons to pass out New Testaments on school grounds and had been allowing coaches to pray with the team before football games. The justice sided with the local assistant principal who filed the suit and called these acts coercive. On Nov. 18 a letter was printed in the Missourian saying these acts were coercive and that schools are zones of free, non-biased expression.

This letter is being written for two purposes: to challenge the claim that school are or even should be bias free, and to clarify the original intent of the framers of the First Amendment regarding the religions establishment clause.

There are many people who believe that the public school system is a place of free thought were children are never influenced in any way. Children can learn just the facts and not be bombarded with people's opinions. As an educator, I can tell you that this is not the case, although there are some who, when it suits their purposes, will try and tell people different. The only way that schools can be totally free of human opinion is to remove all the humans from the schools.

Schools teach values every day, yet all people in this country don't share the same values. Drug education is teaching students to resist drugs like alcohol and tobacco, which many people value as important parts of their lives. Codes of conduct, rewards for certain behaviors, content and structure of classes, teacher opinions and teacher methods all display bias in the schools. Since schools are place of bias and agendas, then the real question is, "What values do we want taught, promoted and displayed?"

To determine the values to be taught, we must look to those things we believe in general as a society, values the majority accepts as true. Values like unconditional love, hard work, fairness, honesty, life and respect are a few values we hold in common. These values bring out goodness and are positive in nature. We punish people who commit crimes that go against these values.

Does Christianity support or reject the values we hold dear to us? Obviously, truly Christ-based teaching supports and encourages all the values mentioned above. In fact, these values are rooted in a Judeo-Christian book called the Bible. The overwhelming majority of the framers could literally quote the Bible chapter and verse. They all grew up with the Bible as their primary teaching tool. They also used the Bible as the primary reference point to the creation of the U.S. Constitution. Simply study the laws and principles set forth by Moses in the Torah, and you will see that our government is patterned after the Hebrew government.

Since schools are biased, then don't we as a community and nation want our schools to be biased to reflect the values of the majority? Christianity supports the overwhelming majority of this community and nation. Why do so many people oppose things that will help society reinforce positive morals and values?

One must remember that the original intent of the religious establishment clause was only intended for the federal government to not create a national church like the Church of England. It was intended to keep one denomination from taxing people or persecuting them for disagreeing with their ideas. Some say the 14th Amendment applied this to the states. Even if this is true, it still would not keep a local government from promoting Christianity or its values. It would simply prevent it from taxing people for the church or persecuting people who believed differently.

I reject any notion that supposes references to God and support of God in our public schools is harmful. Biblical values are the cornerstones of our country. As they go, so goes the foundation the country stands on. Abraham Lincoln said, "The philosophy of the schoolhouse in one generation is the philosophy of the government in the next." This should help us get a grip on shy our moral standards got so low in our government.

Look at the current occupant of the White House and ask what was being promoted in schools and society when he was in high school and college. If we want our nation to continue to prosper, we must instill these values into future generations. If we want to reverse some of the modern trends of today's secular society that stresses that there are no absolutes, then we must support activities that teach young and old alike that there is a higher authority. We must realize that the culture won't change until the hearts of the people change. The true work for Christians is to work to help God change the hearts of people. One way to do that is to teach about God to the young.

BRUCE ADEN

Benton