[net.religion] Prayer in public school, again

perry@nmtvax.UUCP (03/29/84)

    Hello net world,

    Long time, no see. With all the talk of prayer in public school, I stopped
    to think back on when I was going to high school (a couple of years ago in
    a small county  high school in  middle Georgia),  and when  I was the only
    overt agnostic  among a student body of  Christians (or, at least, members
    of Christ-based religions).  I prefectly  happy believing what I believed,
    but my Christian friends  found it necessary to try to  convert  me and to
    save  me from  going to  hell (I  appreciated  the  thought,  but not  the
    actions). The principal  of the school was (and still is) a fine Christian
    man who tried to  instill  Christian thoughts in  our mind  every  morning
    during annoucements by way of the "thought for the day", a inspiring story
    which usually  ended  with a moral,  like find  comfort  in Jesus, or have
    faith in God,  or something similar.  Prayer was openly present in my high
    school whether it be praying  for the  hostages in Iran or praying for our
    basketball team  to win state.  It was present without  an  constitutional
    amendment.  After  three and half  years pressure,  I  became a Christian.
    I gave in. Soon afterward,  I left  Georgia to go to  school in New Mexico
    (where I am now),  and without  the strong  Christian influences (for that
    matter, without any strong religious influences), I became Baha'i (despite
    anguish from my Christian friends back in Georgia).

    There are two points in all this:
        a) The  strong influence of  peer pressure  convinced me to change
        my beliefs in things (no flames  about how I  should have stronger
        in what I believed). I am worried that another young agnostic in a
        predominantly Christian  school  will be convinced to  change  his
        evil ways.
        b) Even without an amendment in public school allowing for prayer,
        it  will still be out  there where no one will stand up and object
        to it. I've seen and I have heard about it from others.

    But what am I worried about? Congress defeated the amendment, didn't they?

    Allan F. Perry
    ...lanl-a!unm-cvax!nmtvax!perry
    ...lanl-a!unm-cvax!nmtvax!robin