Louisiana State Representative Katrina R. Jackson has a curious take on the religion clauses. Despite contrary Supreme Court precedent under the First Amendment, Jackson is pushing legislation to require students to learn the Lord’s prayer every morning in public schools. Jackson insists that requiring the Lord’s prayer (though students cannot be punished for failing to recite it) is simply a way to get them to appreciate . . . you guessed it . . . religious freedom.
House Bill 660 (known as the “Parental Choice Historical Prayer and Pledge Act”) would “require the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to establish a policy and develop procedures relative to school prayer and the pledge of allegiance.” It further states:
Students shall be reminded that the Lord’s Prayer is the prayer that the pilgrim fathers recited when they came to America in search for freedom.
Students shall be informed that these exercises are not meant to influence an individual’s personal religious beliefs in any manner.
The recitations shall be conducted so that students learn of America’s great freedoms,including the freedom of religion symbolized by the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer.
Having the government require the recitation of a prayer to God is certainly a lesson on religious freedom but one that is taught by the denial of that freedom. Jackson wants public employees to lead children in saying to God “Hallowed be thy Name; Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done in earth; As it is in heaven.” They will also state together that “For thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, For ever and ever.”
The effort to require students to recite the Lord’s Prayer (or sit and listen to its daily recitation) is an obvious effort to endorse its religious message. It is not a lesson on freedom of religion. It is a lesson on state-endorsed religion. Once again, if passed, the law would trigger litigation and the expenditure of time and money before it is struck down — in a state that has limited educational funds. Louisiana currently ranks with the worst ranked school systems in the nation with over half of its schools deemed as failing. While that is certainly a good reason for students to pray that they will have any future with a subpar education, it would be better to actually offer education to help them find a job and a future.
On her bio in the state legislature, she is described
She states:
Attorney Jackson attended Lincoln Elementary, Carroll Jr. High school, Carroll High School. She also attended the University of Louisiana at Monroe, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Pre-Law and Legal Studies. . . . In efforts to quench her thirst and longing to help others, Ms. Jackson attended Southern University Law Center and received a Juris Doctor degree in 2004. Ms. Jackson ended her law school career by graduating in the top fourteen percent of her class (18 out of 128). In April 2005, Ms. Jackson was admitted to the Louisiana State Bar Association.
Clearly, the constitutional law classes did not seem to stick on the issue of separation of church and state.
She further states on her bio:
Ms. Jackson attributes her accomplishments to not just having a dream, but having a dream that lines up with God’s plan for her life. She believes her footsteps are ordered by God and everyday Ms. Jackson works to allow God to guide her in the process of realizing her dream. Her family worships at Riverside Missionary Baptist Church in Monroe, LA.
I understand the importance of faith to Ms. Jackson and her insistence that her work as a politician is part of God’s design. However, once again, the insistence on requiring others to recite and/or listen to professions of that faith is the step beyond personal faith to state endorsement. There are many people who are as faithful and devout as Jackson but do not run for office on that claim of faith or try to impose it on others. Indeed, there are many who view the use of faith by politicians to be offensive as they do mandatory recitation of religious prayers in schools. As Justice William Brennan states in his concurrence in Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963):
There are persons in every community—often deeply devout—to whom any version of the Judaeo-Christian Bible is offensive. There are others whose reverence for the Holy Scriptures demands private study or reflection and to whom public reading or recitation is sacrilegious…. To such persons it is not the fact of using the Bible in the public schools, nor the content of any particular version, that is offensive, but the manner in which it is used.
Source: Patheos
Persons running for office should have to take an intelligence test to determine if they understand that defending the Constitution excludes proposing legislation that attacks it. I am so sick and tired of religious fanatics telling the rest of us that if we don’t let them force their religion down our throats we are intolerant bigots! This is what comes of allowing religious organizations to craft creative ways get public money “without offending the First Amendment”. Give them a dollar and they want it all!
Randy Newman published a song entitled “Louisiana”. The repetitive part was “They’re trying to wash us away, they’re tryin to wash us away..”
It seems apt that a Lords Prayer might stop something like being washed away in a flood, hurricane or pissant invasion. If someone could please Google the Randy Newman song and post the lyrics, we would all benefit. My Dogalogue Machine wont let us Google.
“Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition. ” Statement given before each meal by army guys in WWI in France.
The Lords Prayer: the first apCray that the slaves heard when they got off the slave ship on the port at the Colony of Virginia back in 1688.
That could start a “which lord” religious war:
Ms. Jackson though no doubt intelligent, would seem to be extremely ignorant due to her religious bias that views the world through the extremely narrow lens of her religious beliefs. This is troubling because I can see that it is quite possible that she has proposed this travesty honestly believing that it has merits for teaching “religious freedom”, blinded by the strictures of her own faith.
As to Bron’s comment, while I don’t see Jamestown as a good example, his point is quite valid. By promoting the Pilgrims as the “founders” we give weight to their particular point of view in the shaping of this nation. In fact that is not true and downplays the influence of the Catholics (Maryland) and the Quakers in Pennsylvania, in addition to many other religious traditions represented in the beginnings of our country. Considering the severity and intolerance of the Pilgrim’s themselves, this does ot make for a good reading of America history.
Around here, we praise the Lard on Sunday, and Krisco on Monday.
No, no, Jackson, religious freedom would be if you recited a different religion’s prayer every day, and some secular humanist mantra at least once in awhile as well.
From the Book of Stu of Pid:
Verily I say, there will come a time when My followers will subdue the Earth and my words will be heard from horizon to horizon. But I warn you, there will be tribulation in the West where some miscreants will seek to gorge from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. Fear not, my minions armed with the mere power of these words will issue forth and drive out the infidels. The bravest of these are the ones who reside in the infidel camp and who through My divine intercession and their stealth do indirectly what we cannot do directly. So sayeth Stu of Pid.
mepso – I think we know how they would react to the 5 prayers of Islam. This came up recently in one of the former slave states. The State Rep offered a bill requiring the reciting of a prayer in schools and when asked if a Muslim pray would be permitted his reply was that he did not support terrorism.
I think the reason our founding does not go back to Jamestown is there is no line from there to here – they died out.
” Teach Freedom Of Religion ”
This was a long time ago. When I was in the 4th grade the state required that every class room start the day by reading 10 verses from the bible and recite the lord’s prayer. It was the common practice in our school that each day a different student would perform this task. As a result, every 5 or six weeks it was my duty to stand in front of the class, read from the bible and then lead the class reciting the lord’s prayer.
That practice definitely taught me to value religious freedom.
To this day I bristle at the thought of adults using their official position to inflict their view of religion on children.
Don’t get me wrong. I have lived among Christians all my life and usually get along well with them. They usually have good intentions and frequently they are funny. Good Christians can make good neighbors – just avoid Wednesday night prayer meeting and any discussion of saving souls – if at all possible.
Bron,
Lol…. You just never know…. But come on… These folks in office today are just plain crazy…. Verily…..
I generally view attorneys who refer to themselves as “Attorney ______”, as if it were an honorific, as over-compensating for personal inadequacies.
AY:
Verily? Wither art thou going?
Amen… Mespo and bron…. Verily….
Bron:
Good thoughts, Bron. I wonder what our religious-minded La. representative would say if we tacked onto to her bill some required recitations from the Q’uran?
David Blauw:
why limit other prayer to just Native Americans? Add Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, Jainist, Jewish and others as well.
mespo:
we have got to change the idea that the Pilgrims were the founding of America. In my mind the real founding of America was Jamestown.
There’s a reason the founders required public officials to swear to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” They knew theocratic and disingenuous (oh, it’s just to promote its historical significance) dolts like Katrina Jackson are always around.
As a balance they should teach the prayers the Native Americans said, as the European settlers committed genocide on them and their culture.
This would be real mind expanding.