LETTERS.

Religion And Public Schools: Why Separation Matters

The cartoon on page 11 of the October issue of Church & State touched a chord for me. It showed a group of school children gathered around a teacher who singled out one child and said, "As a school, we just want to unite in a prayer under the word of the Lord ... all except Jimmy, the godless, atheist Satan worshipper!"

Fifty years ago, when I was a graduate student at Penn State, we were one of five Catholic families in the county. The others sent their children to a Catholic school about 50 miles away, boarded them in homes there and got them back for the weekend. We did not wish to do this and enrolled our second-grade twins in the local public school, the first Catholic children they had ever had.

One teacher contacted us before term began and was told that we had no objection to our child participating in the prayers before class and taking his turn reading from the scriptures. We said we were aware that they used a different form of the Lord's Prayer and a different Bible translation.

The other teacher never contacted us. On the first day of class she said "Stand up, Peter! Children, Peter is a Papist child who is not allowed to worship God as we do, but is taught to worship idols. Let us pray for his conversion and delivery from Hell." This ritual was repeated daily.

We thought at first that our son's reluctance to speak about school was due to unfamiliarity, until another parent told us what was going on. When I approached the teacher, she told me that I was lying when I denied that Catholics worshipped idols. Every Catholic church she had ever seen, she said, has an idol of a woman on the left of the altar, an idol of a man on the right and an idol of a man with no clothes on in the middle.

The principal said that she never interfered with the teachers, so I sent a letter to the school board. The board chair, a local attorney, asked me to come to his office. He opened by saying that the board could in no way admonish a woman who was only trying to save my son from eternal damnation, but that they would agree to waive their normal rule and allow Peter to join his brother's class.

I have heard similar stories from Jews and from a Lutheran whose child was enrolled in an otherwise Catholic public school in Texas.

--D. Hobson Oshkosh, Wisc.

Don't Bash The Bible

Samuel Rabinove's column ("The Ten Commandments And Public Schools: Shall We Post The Penalties Too?," November Church & State) was an insult to those of us with the temerity to profess religious faith. Struggle as I might with some of the representations of the Bible, I still consider it sacred text. The process by which Jewish tradition has interpreted and applied Torah has been a faithful one, affirming the sacred dimension of every word. Even those of us -- like myself -- who affirm the human contributions to part or all of Holy Scripture, nonetheless treat the Bible as a reflection of God's presence in our lives.

Mr. Rabinove calls the penalties for violating the Ten Commandments "simply barbaric" and asserts that they are not only far less than divine, but the "beliefs of primitive people." While entitled to his opinion ("the views expressed here are his own"), the appearance of such a denigrating characterization of religious belief in the pages of Church & State lends credence to the notion that Americans United is not pro-liberty, but anti-religion.

There are very good reasons not to post religious texts in public schools, and Mr. Rabinove gets around to some of them after he finishes bashing the Bible. And then he mentions his own canon of civic values which should be taught. Among them are decency, civility, courtesy and respect.

Good advice, Mr. Rabinove. Without them, our society would be quite simply barbaric.

--Rabbi Jack Moline Alexandria, Va.

Christian Coalition Isn't Particularly Christian

The October issue of your magazine contains several articles suggesting that the activities of the Christian Coalition are not particularly Christian. Charles Kimball's essay, for example, contrasts official prayer before football games with the sayings of Jesus ("Football Prayer: What Would Jesus Do?," October Church & State).

This is the first time I recall seeing such statements in your magazine, and I encourage you to continue to point out the non-Christianity of the Christian Coalition. The day is gone when you could make your case simply by pointing to the Constitution and declaring a particular practice of religion to be contrary to its dictates. Additional justification is needed. Most people in the United States, myself included, are more influenced by what Jesus had to say on an issue than by what is in the Constitution.

--Hugh Nicholson Madison, Ala.

Church & State welcomes letters to the editor. Although not all correspondence can be published, readers' opinions are appreciated. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit all letters for brevity and clarity.