Brendan Jones – 5/15/07

This page was last updated on May 20, 2007.

School prayer is no answer; Brendan Jones; Beaver County Times; May 15, 2007.

If you’ve read Mr. Jones’ letters, you know he doesn’t believe in religion. He not only doesn’t believe in religion, he ridicules those who do. In a previous letter, Mr. Jones referred to “religious faith” as a “virus” and asserted, “The Bible teaches to kill all the non-Christians.” That smacks of someone not secure in his opinion.

Actually, I need to correct myself. Mr. Jones appears to believe in religion, the religion of atheism. Why is atheism a religion? Because, just as those who believe in a deity can’t prove the existence of God, atheists can’t prove God doesn’t exist. Therefore, both beliefs are based on faith.

It’s possible Mr. Jones would assert he’s agnostic (not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God), but that would not explain the vigor with which he goes after believers in God.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Penny Vula’s May 9 letter ‘Put prayer back in school’ shows a great lack of understanding of the history of mandated school prayer and the efficacy of prayer in general.”

[RWC] While I’m not a big fan of school-organized prayer in public schools, I also tend to believe bans have gone too far is some cases.

“Students and teachers alike are allowed to pray in school as they see fit as long as they do not disrupt normal school activities.”

[RWC] Not exactly. Other than as part of a club meeting, students and teachers may not participate in organized prayer whether it’s part of a “normal” school activity or not. Individual private prayer is OK.

“The context in which prayer is not allowed in schools is student or teacher led because it has been determined as coercive and thus violates the First Amendment. This includes asking those who do not want to pray to leave the classroom.”

[RWC] As I’ve noted before, the First Amendment doesn’t prohibit school prayer though the U.S. Supreme Court obviously disagrees. Read the First Amendment and you’ll find it says, “Congress [my emphasis] shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The First Amendment specifically refers to Congress, not the states. Nothing in the U.S. Constitution prohibits individual states from sponsoring religions. I would not oppose states sponsoring religions, but the Constitution doesn’t prohibit it, assuming you can read and understand English.

“Mandated Bible reading in public schools was first outlawed in Wisconsin in 1890 because a Roman Catholic family objected to the exclusive use of the Protestant King James Bible. In 2000, the Supreme Court outlawed student initiated prayers at high school football games because students of Mormon and Roman Catholic families in Texas were being harassed by the born-again majority.

“Yet somehow the secular community is the scapegoat.

“Would reinstating school prayer help curb the violence? Sadly, no. All it takes is a cursory review of statistics from various other countries. The extremely secular countries of Scandinavia, Japan, Australia and Canada have very low levels of adolescent dysfunction. The United States is disturbingly more dysfunctional, ranking first in almost every category.”

[RWC] Based on previous experience with Mr. Jones’ “facts,” I recommend you do you own research before you accept the above paragraph as fact.

“Yet the level of religiosity is markedly higher. Somewhere between 85-95 percent of Americans believe in God.”

[RWC] I hate to break the news to Mr. Jones, but simply believing in God – or even going to church – doesn’t make a person religious. Being religious requires devotion.

“We also have the problem of the efficacy of prayer in general. Some people think prayer has healed cancer, cured the sick and all other sorts of claims. But in a very controlled situation, the absurdity of this kind of thinking stands out.”

[RWC] This is an example of the ridicule I mentioned above. If you don’t believe as Mr. Jones, your “kind of thinking” is absurd.

“Reinstating mandated school prayer will not reduce the amount of violence that is prevalent today because religiosity is not a marker for lawlessness, nor is prayer effective in changing outcomes in the material world.”

[RWC] If Mr. Jones can prove prayer is not “effective in changing outcomes in the material world,” why doesn’t he? It’s because he can’t, just as the believer can’t prove prayer changed an outcome.