Time to Reimagine School Prayer?

[Stephen Fox]

Religion Dispatches says Maybe

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archi ... h_schools/

Andrew Gardner at ED.com says no

http://www.ethicsdaily.com/a-public-pra ... -cms-18024

[Big Daddy Weaver]

[Stephen Fox]

But to be the Devil's Advocate, I doubt James Dunn's Momma and Daddy gave a 2nd thought to the many prayers publicly uttered at his Baccalaureate service and graduation in East Texas, nor Stanley Hauerwas for that matter when he rode to their graduation with Bailey Smith in North Dallas in 56.

I have been reading some recently the series of essays conflating King and Bonhoeffer and their "cruciform communitarianism". Without some common language as the the reimaginer notions, what is the glue.

At same time I understand the captive audience argument of our friends at BJC.

May be some wiggle room to advance an ethic of hospitality in these matters as opposed to further risking the reputation of nitpicking community to its nubbins. Should be some room there without making TexRegs and Citizen Council Birchers out of all of us.

For me I say President Obama enacts 30 years of Marvin Gaye renditions of What's Going On at all Public School Graduations until we get it figgered out.

Just a thought, may change my mind in 20 minutes.

There is an interesting essay on Dewey, King and DB in the Jenkins/McBride collection. In meantime once more I extend the public invitation to BDW in particular to navigate my various musings and links on Noll at public policy forum

[Ed Pettibone]

God Bless Angela Hildenbrand, the school's valedictorian. The right here Mr. Gardner was the right to free speech. And Ledewits's appeal to the Lee vs Wiesman is not well taken in that the cited case was about the school inviting a cleric to pray not in their allowing a student to pray.

[Big Daddy Weaver]

Ed has a point about Lee v. Weisman. The Weisman decision was indeed about clergy-led prayer.

Yet, Andrew Gardner did not mention Lee v. Weisman in his EthicsDaily.com column.

There is another ruling that is most relevant here: Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000)

The Doe decision held that a policy permitting student-led, student-initiated prayer at high school football games violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

While the Supreme Court has not heard a case involving student-led prayer at GRADUATION, the Santa Fe decision clearly rejects the idea that if a prayer comes from a student, there is no problem.

[Ed Pettibone]

[Big Daddy Weaver]

[Stephen Fox]

[HowellS]

[Big Daddy Weaver]

A couple of authors - Barry Hankins and Andrew Hogue - have shown that Richard Land's views about church-state issues have changed since he took over the ERLC. Hankins documents that change in his book Uneasy in Babylon with regard to the Istook school prayer amendment in the late 90s.

My comment is based on what I remember from reading Land's The Divided States of America a few years back.

[Stephen Fox]

http://blogs.christianpost.com/liberty/ ... ollege-10/

I was Casey's substitute teacher from 6th Grade through 12th in Collinsville. He had stellar group of insular friends in High School for a small town including later to be Yale Div Grad, three UVA grads, Auburn and U Bama Honors Grads and a Duke Grad who befriended Bishop Willimon, then Duke Chaplain.

I am disappointed to see he veer from the Baptist Joint Committee toward SBC Peace Committee Charles Pickering's Allied Defense Fund.
Got a text today to say Casey made soundbyte on the Christian Radio Network of Focus on the Family.

15 miles up the road from Casey's roots, the church where Bobby Welch was baptized produced Cherilyn Crowe, Vandy grad now on staff with Baptist Joint Committee.
So in a sense it's all in the neighborhood.

[Stephen Fox]

http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispa ... E2%80%99s/

BDW. If you have a take on the above link, speak for Baylor Church state wisdom and put it in the perspective, context of Allied Defense Fund. How do you handicap Pickering's ADF as shadow of BJC on these matters. Is ADF legitimate alternative voice to BJC. Is there any virtue to them> What is their greatest flaw>