The Holy Influence

“It seems that this all started when our government, in its infinite wisdom, took God out of our schools that taught us not to kill, not to hate, not to harm but to be kind, courteous and respectful.” –Robert Chmela of Elgin.As Robert Chmela said, after God was taken out of schools everything went downhill. According to heartofwisdom.com, after prayer removed in 1962, SAT scores dropped from the 970s to as low as 890, STDs more than doubled, and premarital sex raised from 0-25% in teens to 25-70%. American schools need the positive influence of God and Christianity.

God and religion are essential to school life for a variety of reasons-those of which include (but are not limited to) history, student behavior and expectations, and science.

“The definition of science shows that something is scientific only if it can be observed and verified. All must admit that it is impossible to prove scientifically any particular concept of origins, creationism or evolution. No human being was there in the beginning to observe and verify how matter and life came into existence.” – Pastor Kerwin Thiessen of Newton, Kansas.
No one knows what really happened when humans, the Earth, and the Universe were created. Therefore no one can prove these theories. The incapability to prove scientific theories such as evolution and the Big Bang Theory make them religion, not science due to the fact that religion is something that has to be believed without any real evidence. If schools teach these “religious ideas” then creationism should be taught! Many teachers make a conscious effort to not bias students’ opinions. But by not teaching creationism, teachers are biasing the students into believing in the evolution and the Big Bang Theory.

Hand-in-hand with science is history. In numerous instances, textbooks and historians have slighted history by leaving out the religion. From Jesus being born in that little stable in Bethlehem to not including President Roosevelt’s last four words after the attack on Pearl Harbor- so help us God-, people have been “changing history” and history classes to make it what Americans consider “politically correct”. Jesus walking the Earth has a big impact on history, and not one history teacher bothers to say a word about it. Even Buddhists acknowledge that Jesus walked the Earth, so who would it be offending anyways? Almost everyone accepts that Jesus walked Earth even if he/she isn’t Christian or Catholic. Jesus has taught people to love and accept each other as brothers and sisters. Where has that lesson gone? This world is in chaos and learning this one lesson and really taking it to heart would change the world for the better.

Students shouldn’t be allowed to take the Lord’s name in vain. It should be counted as swearing because it is against the Second Commandment and is usually used in a derogatory way. Also, purity codes should be taught in reproductive health because many students could do with that little warning about having sex outside of marriage. There are ways to teach reproductive health, going through what has to be gone through while weaving in God’s messages about sexual immorality and making sure your body is a holy temple for God. So many students don’t get that lesson at home-the lesson of keeping your body holy and not abusing it. Students might not get to know the true love and grace of God. Whether divorced parents, abuse, excessive moving, disease, or other situations, parents can overlook God’s simple promise of love, grace, and forgiveness. Students need to know God’s unconditional love.

On the other hand, public schools are for teaching the real-world definitions, theories and history; not religion and beliefs that may, or may not, be true. The separation of church and state is there for a reason. If someone wants to be taught creationism, go join a private school! Nothing is trying to stop students from praying on their own, or eliminate/change their beliefs.
“Contrary to the claims of opponents of church-state separation, public school students enjoy very broad rights to act in accordance with their religious values and to practice their religious beliefs while at school. From words of grace whispered quietly before a meal in a cafeteria to prayer groups gathering before school at the flagpole, every day all over the country, students engage in constitutionally protected religious expression on public school grounds.” –A writer for ADL.
America is a free country and Buddhists, Muslims, Jewish, and any other students should be able to go to a public school without the pressure to become Christian due to peers, teachers, and class curriculums. No one likes bullying or peer pressure and adding a religion to school would just add to the bullying. If a child refused to believe what the teacher was teaching, if they fought back about a point of discussion, or if they imposed their own beliefs to other students, they would get heckled, harassed, and/or verbally/physically harmed by students for being “different”. This happens in today’s schools already-for some it’s a pretty large issue- so why add more?

But Jesus walking Earth is part of history, no one is getting forced to participate in anything religious, and the economy is really bad right now. Due to the economical state of the country, it is not possible in many cases for a mass quantity of Christians in public schools to join private schools. While it is true that having all the Christian students go to Christian schools would remove a large amount of the problem, the money just isn’t there to support that type of mass moving of students. 83% of American citizens claim that they are Christian, so what is the big problem? If so many people are Christian there shouldn’t be this uproar about God not being allowed in schools, and that it is unconstitutional. No one can say that the other 16%-a minute minority- is overpowering the millions of Christians. Besides, it’s not like students are being forced to do anything-so there goes another reason to fight the issue. The option would just be there to take Christian classes and pray at the beginning and end of the day. Teaching about Jesus walking the Earth and creationism isn’t much different than teaching Hitler or evolution because both Hitler and Jesus are known to be real. There are more written accounts that Jesus walked the Earth than that George Washington was president, yet no one ever doubted George Washington. Creationism and evolution are both religious not scientific due to the fact that no evidence is available to support either theory; no one was alive when humans were made so no one knows for sure what happened.

"A Congress that allows God to be banned from our schools while our schools can teach about cults, Hitler and even devil worship is wrong, out of touch, and needs some common sense." Rep. James Traficant, (D-OH) 1999-APR-27.Rep. Traficant has the right idea when he says schools teach about cults but not about God. School systems say they are for equality, non-biased environments, and curriculum accuracy. Well how can a school be unbiased when it doesn’t let God permeate history, yet it teaches its students about cults, slavery, Hitler, and war? Equality doesn’t come from showing only the bad. American society has become as pessimistic as to not show the good in history anymore. What about Noah’s Ark? Jesus’ birth? There are so many great times in history that schools don’t even bother with. Instead they go for the bad, the ugly, and the brutal. No wonder kids these days are so violent. Parents are blaming it all on the video games and television shows but they also need to be looking towards the schools for blame too. No way in the world can satanic worship be ok to teach if they can’t even spare 30 seconds for voluntary prayer!

For the health and well-being of the generation coming up right now, God and religion needs to permeate the school life once again. How do parents feel when their son/daughter comes home saying she is pregnant/he got his girlfriend pregnant? Unfortunately, in today’s world this is a pretty common conversation in a typical teen household. But when God was still present in schools, to come home and say that would be taken extremely harsh and potentially get you disowned for being a disgrace to the family name. All the rising teen pregnancies, STDs, divorces, unmarried couples living under the same roof, alcoholics, and many of today’s problems can be traced back to the same thing-taking God out of schools. If you were that parent, would you want to be living now or back when God was in schools?


Bibliography
http://heartofwisdom.com/blog/when-prayer-was-taken-out-of-school. When Prayer Was Taken Out Of Schools, January 13, 2009. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00E2D8143DF934A15751C0A9639C8B63. The Nation: The Faith Factor; Putting God Back Into American History, February 27, 2005.http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADH472.pdf. Family Life Education: Teaching Youth about Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS, 2006. Thiessen, Kerwin. “Forum: Should Creationism Be Taught In Public Schools? Yes.” Direction Journal (online). Vol. 11 No. 4 (October 1982) http://www.adl.org/issue_religious_freedom/separation_cs_primer_schools.asp. Public Schools: Teaching Democracy Not Dogma, 1999. Knowles, William R. “Separation of Church and State.” Highland’s Today (online) (December 2007). Ingersoll, Robert. Colonel. 19th Century. Chmela, Robert. Elgin Graduate. February 28, 2008.Traficant, James. Representative. April 27, 2009.