POPLAR BLUFF STICKS TO PRAYERS AT GAMES

After abortion, there are few issues that can raise the ire of newspaper readers in this area faster than the topic of prayers in public schools.

Keep in mind that folks in many other parts of the country don't see prayers at school as much of an issue at all. They cite the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from establishing a national religion, out of which has come concepts like separation of church and state. These are concepts of law, however, with little grounding in the Constitution, much as the Talmud embodies the Jewish tradition apart from Sacred Scripture.

The whole idea of prayers in public schools was of little import until the latter part of this century. For nearly 200 years, public schools used religious texts and prayers as integral parts of a whole and well-rounded education. The same nation that gave us court decisions banning prayers in public schools also gave us a Congress that designated the Washington Cathedral in Washington, D.C., as a place of national prayer.

The effect of the various debates and legal decisions regarding prayer in public schools has been to make local school officials -- those who are entrusted by the voters to run things -- skittish to the point of making choices they don't want to make in order to avoid a confrontation in court.

As a result, school boards across the country have adopted policies contrary to community standards, all for the sake of satisfying the legal whims of an era.

Not in Poplar Bluff, however.

The school board there has told the superintendent to continue "opening comments" before athletic events. This includes a prayer. The superintendent said the district could be sued and would lose in court. Let 'em sue, the board responded. We are a town that believes in the power of prayer, even at our football games.

Good for these brave board members. They may be the only elected officials in the country who, in this day and age, are willing to do what they think they were elected to do rather than operate in a mishmash of federally imposed political correctness.

There are organizations out there, of course, who will gladly file a lawsuit against the district just to make a point. These groups, usually based a long way away from Southeast Missouri, don't care about the deep religious convictions of a town like Poplar Bluff. The law is the law, and that's that. Remember the fuss in Cape Girardeau a few years ago over the cross on highway right-of-way commemorating the 1699 visit of three French missionaries, giving the nearby creek its modern-day name, Cape LaCroix Creek?

More recently, the Southwest Missouri town of Buffalo gave up its Christian fish symbol in the town seal rather than spend thousands in dollars in a protracted legal battle. So much for that community's standards too.

Poplar Bluff's school board has made a bold decision. It is sad to think that the will of the community will be ignored if and when this issue gets into court.