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