dmcanzi@watdcsu.UUCP (David Canzi) (09/07/84)
Some proponents of school prayer support it by claiming that their children should have a right to pray. This argument is bogus. Without prayer in school, children still have the right to pray. They can pray before school, during recesses and lunch breaks, after school. They can pray silently during quiet moments in class, during trips to the washroom, during tests. ESPECIALLY during tests. They can pray until they turn blue. They can pray until God Himself steps down from Heaven, shakes their hands, and congratulates them for their performance. In short, the right to pray does not require school prayer. This seems so obvious that supporters of school prayer must be aware of it. If so, then their purpose for wanting school prayer is *not*, as they claim, protecting their children's right to pray. What is it? I would like to suggest that the likely results of school prayer reveal its *real* purpose. The child in school gets to know all his classmates very well, and becomes dependent mostly on them for friendship and play. Suppose most of the children pray together. Those who pray will be more friendly to each other and feel secure about being able to make and keep friends. Those who don't pray will have fewer friends and feel less secure. This is called "peer support", or "peer pressure", depending on your opinion of it. I think this peer pressure is the real purpose of school prayer. David Canzi, watmath!watdcsu!dmcanzi