"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full."
Matthew 6:5
Okaloosa County School district has had some problems with being unable to follow the law that says teachers
can't lead prayer in school. The other night, Okaloosa County School had a school board meeting about the prayer they like to have at the
beginning of all school board meetings.
If the Okaloosa County School Board follows its attorney’s recommendations, prayer still will have a place at the beginning of meetings.
However, that prayer would no longer be led by the superintendent or School Board members. Instead, any prayers would be addressed to the board by members of the community and take place outside of the business portion of the meeting.
The meeting quickly turned into a Christian revival of sorts with everybody praying and talking at the same time, shaking their hands in the air, children covering their faces and look bewildered and uncomfortable because the parents were acting ... strange. Here were some of the
comments at that meeting:
“A recent Gallup Poll says 61 percent of Americans are in favor of prayer in school, let alone at a public meeting. You need as much wisdom as possible, and that is what prayer is.”
– Tim Black, Fort Walton Beach
Tim Black is talking about this
poll. One way to look at that poll is how it shows the numbers are dipping in popularity ... but whatever,
numbers are Satan's playthings.
“The group that is opposing the invocation doesn’t even reside in this area. We should have the ability and the privilege to invoke God’s presence at any of our meetings and functions.”
– Terrance Bulger, Fort Walton Beach
Good point, Terrance Bulger. I'll duly note that next time I live in Karl Marx's utopia of small communes where people govern themselves, or the next time a Christian group tries to tell me or people in general what laws should dictate medical practices in our country.
“I have a long memory of teaching. I remember when there was prayer in school, and I also remember what happened when prayer was taken out of the schools. You would not believe your ears if you stood in the hallways of our schools and heard the foul language, the bullying, the rudeness to teachers. If we take prayer away from our leaders like you, I fear the example that it will set for our children.”
– Sue Ann Arnold, Niceville
I remember those days too, Sue Ann Arnold. Those were the days when women like you had to be quiet with your opinions.
David Suhor attended the meeting and held up a sign with "Matthew 6:5-6" printed on it. That's the passage quoted in the caption above.
“We humanists believe you are making a huge mistake by injecting prayer into this meeting. By introducing prayer, you abandon all sense of neutrality. As school leaders, you aren't following the same rules you impose in your schools. How are you going to deal with a Muslim or pagan who wants to lead a prayer? What are you going to do when a Satanist says a prayer? We don’t need the school board to facilitate prayers. You don’t make laws; you lead the school system. A moment of silence lets everyone pray, or not, but doesn’t expose our children to religious weirdos like me.”
– David Suhor, Pensacola
Far be it from me to tell people how to pray—but, stop praying at a school board meeting. Be an adult. If your God can't let you conduct the business of a school board your God is lame. It's also
still against the law for the school officials to lead prayers—even though
Governor Rick Scott has loosened up the clear separation between church and state.