Every few days there is an article in the news about an effort to get prayer back in our public schools. "Churches, groups look to faith as an answer for school truancy" was a recent headline in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The idea is that if bible clubs and prayer are allowed in the school troublesome students will get religion and start behaving. A lack of religion by troublesome students may be a factor but the real reason the schools in question have a truancy problem is more likely the location of the schools. Schools in "bad" parts of big cities have more problem students. The problem isn't the lack of prayer in the school. The problem is the high crime, high unemployment, low income, and so forth of the area that surrounds the school. You don't find the same high level of student problems in the "nice" sections of town. Therefore, the solution lies in improving the economic problems of the "bad" sections of town. Those promoting prayer in public schools are only using the "bad" student issue in hopes it will be a way of sneaking prayer back into the public school system.

     Those promoting bible clubs and prayer in schools always say it should be voluntary and, therefore, does not violate the separation of church and state issue. If a school was to allow voluntary prayer groups for the Christian faiths they would be required to allow the same for Hindus, Moslems, Buddhists, Satanists, etc. The Christians promoting prayer in school would, of course, not like that as their real agenda if the proselytism of the Christen faith. I am not against any religion trying to promote their religion but using the public schools is not an acceptable approach.

     Getting new converts into the church is a primary goal of most Christian faiths but the integration of religion into government entities will not have that desired effect. Many countries have a Christian "state" religion and those countries have a significantly lower percentage of people that go to church. For example, in Denmark the Lutheran church is the state religion and is subsidized by the government. The Danes admit that they only go to church for weddings, confirmations, funerals, and on Easter Sunday. It is not uncommon for a pastor to have no one in the church on Sunday morning. How would a Baptist like it if a tax were deducted from each paycheck for the Lutheran church. This is what happens in Denmark and some other countries that do not have complete separation of church and state. Having a Christian religion as the state religion does not mean peace and harmony. The Protestants and Catholics have been fighting in Ireland for decades. We still have a large military force in Europe (Croatia-Serbia) to kept the Christians and Moslems from killing each other.

     The war in Iraq has religious roots. If it weren't for the past atrocities of Sadam the United States would not have been able to use his past deeds as a justification for his overthrow. Those atrocities were largely committed by Sadam, a Sunni Moslem, to suppress the Shiite Moslems in Iraq and to overthrow the Shiite government in Iran. Iran is another example of the integration of religion and government gone wrong.

     After 9/11 and the Iraq war a lot of Americans have developed a fear and hate of the Moslem religion. In no way do I defend the terrorist act of anybody in the name of religion whether it be a Moslem or a Irish Christian. In the Dark ages the Christian Catholic government killed Protestant Christians that would not convert. The lesson to be learned from history is that it is never good for any religion to control a government. The very people that say all they want is prayer in schools will want more and more. Eventually they will want complete control of government. Power has a proven effect on people that often causes them to do bad things because they believe it is the right thing and the will of God.

     Integration of religion and government is, in fact, not in the best interest of religion and some clear thinking religious leaders know that and promote complete separation of church and state. As I have previous noted, countries that have a state church have some of the lowest church attendance statistics while the United States which has pretty good separation of church and state has much higher church attendance statistics. I read recently that church attendance in the U.S. is more that twice as high as most European countries. If 2+2 still equals 4 that should tell us that what we really want is complete separation of church and state.

     There have been emails making the circuit that use Christian references in the constitution, on money, and on government buildings to justify the integration of church and state. Writers of these emails make the mistaken assumption that there are evil people who are trying to eliminate or suppress religion by prohibiting reference to God on money and government buildings and in the pledge of allegiance. These writers should think about it and realize the complete separation of church and state is in the best interest of of all religions. The constitution was written when the Christian religion was pretty much the only religion in the U.S. and should not be used hundreds of years later to justify the farther integration of church and state when the U.S. is now a country of many different religions including non-Christian religions, even if the majority are Christians. In fact, they should be promoting the elimination of any religious references on anything associated with the government including money, buildings, and the pledge of allegiance. The only way government should be involved in religion is to protect the right of its citizens to freely practice the religion of their choice.

     By now you probably are convinced that I am not a Christian. I was born into a rural American Christian farm family and attended both a Christian grade school and a Christian High School. I want the Christian religion and all other religions to survive and prosper in this great country. I believe the complete separation of church and state is in the best interest of all religions.