THE PUBLIC MIND: COURT TRAMPLES ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTIES

To the Editor:

Once again, those stalwart champions of American civil liberties have come through for us. Again they have denied those radicals (Christians) the right to say a prayer in a public school. It seems that a high school graduate and her parents were forced to sit through a prayer offering thanks to God at her commencement exercises. As we all know this is not in keeping with the law of the land because the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights says it isn't. (It does?) Anyway, this young lady filed suit in court and the Supreme Court took the matter up because they have dealt with this type of radical behavior before. The suit alleged that this practice should not be condoned in a public facility because it violates the First Amendment that says: Congress shall pass no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

Since a public school is not an religious establishment, I fail to see what this amendment has to do with our schools since the whole country was founded by a Christian and developed under Christian principles.

I do see, however, a flagrant disregard for the rights of the person or persons giving the prayer or speech when the Supreme Court tells him or them what they can or cannot say. The First Amendment also includes a paragraph, and I quote: Congress may not abridge the right of free speech.

If you go on to read a little further you will find Amendment 9 which states: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Under our laws, to deny a person the right to free speech is a violation of that person's civil rights so I would assume that a group of persons who would conspire to do this could be arrested and charged with conspiracy. (I wonder if the American Civil Liberties Union would be interested in handling this case.)

I know that we don't want these radical Christians putting their subversive ideas into the heads of our children where they might start believing all this nonsense about loving our neighbors as we do ourselves. (They get these silly ideas from the Bible.) Certainly everyone knows that if your neighbor (meaning other people) isn't exactly like you we are not supposed to like them.

They also say it's wrong to commit fornication (sex outside of marriage). We all know that this can't be true because even our schools condone it because they pass out condoms. (By the way children, keep a note of where you got them and from who because if they break and you contract the AIDS virus you have every right to sue the school district and the person who gave them to you. Of course, you will not be around anymore but your parents will be extremely rich.) They also say that women should not have abortions and kill their fetus because it becomes a human being at conception. They say that children should obey their parents and honor their father and mother. They say people should not drink to excess which could lead to accidents or serious injury to others. (They haven't seen our beer commercials so they don't know what fun they are missing even if it does cost a few lives.) They have other strange ideas like obeying the law, respecting other people regardless of race or religion sim~ply because they are made in God's image and therefore worthy or respect. They say to resist peer pressure and stand up for what's decent and honorable, but, hey, who wants to look like a nerd or wimp! (Try telling that to Mike Singletary, the outstanding linebacker for the Chicago Bears and a devoted servant of Christ.) As we all know, it would be terrible to have this kind of philosophy introduced into our schools and turn our children's minds toward these Christian values. Who knows where this kind of thinking may lead. We may even become the kind of nation that Christopher (name meaning Christ bearer) Columbus meant for us to be when he promised to dedicate the new world to Christ, to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella who agreed to finance Columbus voyage as a means of showing gratitude to God for victory over the Moors who had invaded their land many years ago. (You guessed it, the King and Queen were Christians.) I am sure, however, if our Supreme Court had been in operation in 1492 Columbus would have had to turn around and sail back to Spain because we can't have these religious beliefs invading our public facilities and public schools and becoming One Nation under God with Liberty and Justice for all! (Funny, I seem to have heard this somewhere before).

William E. Ringpfiel

Cape Girardeau