God in the Public Schools

According to CNN, an “Oklahoma lawsuit seeks to block opening of first publicly funded religious charter school in the US”. [1] This false narrative is that religion and public schools should not be separate but interwoven. The question is which religion, even if we assume Christianity, there are hundreds of variations within the US alone!

The truth is that God is present and doesn’t need human endorsement or funding. God was there before the staff and kids arrived. God is there through how our children and staff treat each other. As kids seek to love their neighbors as themselves, and teacher and staff seek to show patience, perseverance, and excellence, in all of this, God is present.

God doesn’t need human approval to act, so what is really driving this push? Let me argue that families desire to get a parochial education at taxpayer expense. The Constitution, though, is clear in the First Amendment “Congress make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise.”[2] Everyone in a school has a right to exercise practice their religion in the schools. Everyone has the right to pray and kids have the right to discuss religion among themselves.

So if everyone can practice their religion, why need parochial schools? Is it an attempt to force change within American families? Is it an attempt to reassert the Church as the center of American life? While these are laudable goals, coercion is not the way. Faith is a gift to be given and not a law to be enforced. We have forgotten this and need to remember it again.

[1] https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/01/us/oklahoma-religious-charter-school-opening-lawsuit/index.html

[2] https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/our-government/the-constitution/#:~:text=The%20First%20Amendment%20provides%20that,for%20a%20redress%20of%20grievances.

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