Dear Editor,
In regards to “Students Should Be Free To Practice Religion,” on page two of last week’s News Letter Journal:
This was in general a very good article, which I appreciated, but it may have been written with the idea that students should be, but are not actually, allowed to practice their religion.
This is possibly a reflection of the commonly-held misunderstanding that some years ago the Supreme Court “took prayer out of our schools” and prohibited children from expressing their viewpoints about God, the Bible, the origins of mankind, and other religious concepts.
This is a misperception that is simply not true.
What the Supreme Court decision outlawed was organized prayer in the public schools. That is, prayer that was organized or directed by teachers and administrators that pressured pupils to say a prescribed prayer expressing the beliefs of some particular religion.
That decision most certainly did not forbid students from praying of their own free will or from expressing their personal religious opinions while at school, as long as these are done in a non-disruptive manner.
All parents and students should be aware of what their freedoms are in this regard and can rest assured that any teacher or school official who attempts to use their position to ban or inhibit appropriate personal prayer or communication of religious ideas are exceeding their constitutional authority and violating the students First Amendment right of free speech.
So the truth is that students not only should be, but in fact are, free to practice religion in school if they choose to do so.
—Leonard Lang