Requiring Prayer in Public Schools

William F. Buckley Jr. (Column Right, Nov. 27) must know that there are many who find requiring children in public school to say, “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence on thee, and we beg thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country,” unacceptable if only because they are not sure there is a God, almighty or not, or that we are dependent on a God, or that a God listens to prayers, or that having listened can or does bless as begged (rather than, for example, doing the opposite or nothing at all), or that such blessings would have any effect, positive or negative--leaving aside such questions as whether government’s establishing such a set of religious beliefs is consistent with our traditional ideas of religious freedom or whether the child on a given day is favorably disposed toward fellow students, parents, teachers or country.

JOHN MAYS

Pacific Palisades

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I was astounded by the speciousness of Buckley’s arguments for school prayers.

In his first argument, Buckley argues that comparing school prayer to the establishment of a state religion is equivalent to comparing a valentine to a marriage contract, and yet, as he reminds us in his first paragraph, he is discussing a possible amendment to our Constitution--a modification of the highest secular contract in the land--no mere valentine.

In his second argument, after paying lip-service to the rights of the minority, he goes on to write “the majority should have the right to say something pleasant to God when school assembles in the morning,” as if the opponents of school prayer were disputing the right of the majority to say prayers in the morning when they argue that the minority should not be forced to say prayers in school by a new law or amendment.

The problem with school prayer, though, is not just its impact on the minority. Passing a law that forces anyone to pray in school, whether that anyone is a believer or a nonbeliever, teaches exactly the opposite of what the law intends to teach. Rather than teaching that we are all beholden to a power higher than either ourselves or our government and that our lives must be guided not just by laws but by the dictates of our conscience, it teaches instead that the law can dictate the nature of our relationship to a higher power and the nature of our conscience.

Subordinating the religious to the secular, as mandatory school prayer would do, diminishes the majesty of both the religious and the secular.

THOMAS M. UDELL

Santa Monica

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Before deciding the issue of school prayer, examine the results of our public schools with it and without it. Our schools experienced a continued improvement in academic scores and discipline problems were an exception until our Supreme Court decided to ban school prayer.

From that time, we have seen a steady decline in test results and student behavior. A coincidence? I doubt it, but the absence of prayer is only a symptom of a society that is experiencing steady moral decay. Placing prayer back into our schools isn’t nearly as important as the statement that our society wants it there.

BONNIE O’NEIL

Newport Beach

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So our representatives want to cut taxes yet increase military spending. They want to bring down big government yet enforce school prayer and restrict women from making choices about their own bodies. How stupid do they think we are?

By the way, I’d like to see Newt Gingrich try to keep a typical American classroom silent and reverent for a minute each day for a month!

MARGARET BAKER DAVIS

La Verne