Column
CLERGY CORNER
The writing is on the wall for public expression of faith
I graduated high school in 1980, 30 years ago now, and with much to remember from those younger days. Academic excellence was encouraged, along with the development of a strong physical and emotional well-being. Awards and honors distributed to many fellow students through the years of my attendance in school offered opportunities for celebration and pushed each of us to do the very best we could.
Did I understand the importance of my developing education at the time? Did we as students see the efforts of staff and parents to open our minds and hearts to new experiences and the extension of bounds of knowledge as positive and for our benefit? Perhaps not at the time, but I do today.
You see, it was the very early years of education that formed the foundation upon which I and, I believe, my classmates have been able to build our “future.” The lessons learned, experiences of life lived, and limits continually overcome through the assistance of others all combined to define who I could become, who I have become.
I look back at those formative years, and give thanks for all who helped me in every level of self-discovery, in helping me to think critically and to be able to make choices that help me every day to live life as I know I need to live it. Not blindly, nor with a sense of randomness, but one of purpose and real meaning. To say “yes” and “no” accordingly, to the challenges of life, and to wrestle well with the grays that life can so often present.
I may not have known it at the time, but the words and actions of others were speaking pieces of truth that I had to assimilate as my own through right choosing and consistency in direction.
These thoughts and reflections are foremost in my mind these days because the high school from which I graduated has recently been in the news, named in an American Civil Liberties Union complaint alleging violation of the separation of church and state. At issue at Cranston High School West recently is the complaint of a parent who is concerned over the presence of a prayer banner in the school auditorium, one that has been hanging for quite some time, and without complaint to this point.
Was this particular display of faith present in my day? I am not sure. But I am sure that there were plenty of faith-based experiences and reminders through those years. Never once do I remember being forced to believe. Never once do I remember feeling that I had to change my own faith or religion, that I was wrong for believing what I believed, nor threatened when other faiths shared the moment and were presented before me. In fact, it was through the exposure to other faiths by meeting classmates who were Jewish, any number of non-Catholic Christian denominations, or those who had no “official” faith expression, that I learned more about my own Catholic faith. I asked questions, compared teachings, wondered about differing ways of celebrating and worship.
The current controversy is just one instance in a very long line of instances, especially in recent years, where the First Amendment is called upon not just to safeguard our being forced to espouse any particular religion, but to remove any presentation contrary to our own. From my understanding and recent rereading of the amendment itself, this very action of the ACLU and individuals trying to get rid of such prayers seems contrary to what the amendment is meant to do.
No one has the right to force belief upon another, nor does one have the right to prohibit its expression. Freedom of religion, or lack thereof, is protected along with speech and other basic freedoms of expression.
As I wrote in my parish bulletin this very weekend, I find the real issue is not the fact that one complaint will win the day, but the fact that the silence of the many will allow the tacit approval of the removal of our own expressions of basic freedom. A prayer on the wall might be very helpful to at least one student, even as it might bother at least another. Words “on the wall” do not force anyone into engaging in prayer or an expression contrary to their own faith. Some may see its presence as the tacit approval or encouragement of the institution toward a particular faith, and therefore offensive, but cannot its very removal be seen as a denial of our right as persons of faith to express such belief?
I have little doubt that the banner will be removed. I only wonder if there will be any voice given to students and staff who might just appreciate its presence, regardless of their personal beliefs, if there will be anyone who will speak to the point of keeping it where it is. After all, what is the harm in presenting things between which we can choose, unless we are afraid and unsure of the very act of choosing in itself.
Isn’t that what a well-rounded education is all about?
The Rev. Peter J. Andrews leads St. Theresa and St. Christopher Roman Catholic Churches in Tiverton. For more information, log on to sstandctiverton.org. The Clergy Corner, written by various clergy in Newport County, appears each week in The Daily News.
The writing is on the wall for public expression of faith
I graduated high school in 1980, 30 years ago now, and with much to remember from those younger days. Academic excellence was encouraged, along with the development of a strong physical and emotional well-being. Awards and honors distributed to many fellow students through the years of my attendance in school offered opportunities for celebration and pushed each of us to do the very best we could.
Did I understand the importance of my developing education at the time? Did we as students see the efforts of staff and parents to open our minds and hearts to new experiences and the extension of bounds of knowledge as positive and for our benefit? Perhaps not at the time, but I do today.
You see, it was the very early years of education that formed the foundation upon which I and, I believe, my classmates have been able to build our “future.” The lessons learned, experiences of life lived, and limits continually overcome through the assistance of others all combined to define who I could become, who I have become.
I look back at those formative years, and give thanks for all who helped me in every level of self-discovery, in helping me to think critically and to be able to make choices that help me every day to live life as I know I need to live it. Not blindly, nor with a sense of randomness, but one of purpose and real meaning. To say “yes” and “no” accordingly, to the challenges of life, and to wrestle well with the grays that life can so often present.
I may not have known it at the time, but the words and actions of others were speaking pieces of truth that I had to assimilate as my own through right choosing and consistency in direction.
These thoughts and reflections are foremost in my mind these days because the high school from which I graduated has recently been in the news, named in an American Civil Liberties Union complaint alleging violation of the separation of church and state. At issue at Cranston High School West recently is the complaint of a parent who is concerned over the presence of a prayer banner in the school auditorium, one that has been hanging for quite some time, and without complaint to this point.
Was this particular display of faith present in my day? I am not sure. But I am sure that there were plenty of faith-based experiences and reminders through those years. Never once do I remember being forced to believe. Never once do I remember feeling that I had to change my own faith or religion, that I was wrong for believing what I believed, nor threatened when other faiths shared the moment and were presented before me. In fact, it was through the exposure to other faiths by meeting classmates who were Jewish, any number of non-Catholic Christian denominations, or those who had no “official” faith expression, that I learned more about my own Catholic faith. I asked questions, compared teachings, wondered about differing ways of celebrating and worship.
The current controversy is just one instance in a very long line of instances, especially in recent years, where the First Amendment is called upon not just to safeguard our being forced to espouse any particular religion, but to remove any presentation contrary to our own. From my understanding and recent rereading of the amendment itself, this very action of the ACLU and individuals trying to get rid of such prayers seems contrary to what the amendment is meant to do.
No one has the right to force belief upon another, nor does one have the right to prohibit its expression. Freedom of religion, or lack thereof, is protected along with speech and other basic freedoms of expression.
As I wrote in my parish bulletin this very weekend, I find the real issue is not the fact that one complaint will win the day, but the fact that the silence of the many will allow the tacit approval of the removal of our own expressions of basic freedom. A prayer on the wall might be very helpful to at least one student, even as it might bother at least another. Words “on the wall” do not force anyone into engaging in prayer or an expression contrary to their own faith. Some may see its presence as the tacit approval or encouragement of the institution toward a particular faith, and therefore offensive, but cannot its very removal be seen as a denial of our right as persons of faith to express such belief?
I have little doubt that the banner will be removed. I only wonder if there will be any voice given to students and staff who might just appreciate its presence, regardless of their personal beliefs, if there will be anyone who will speak to the point of keeping it where it is. After all, what is the harm in presenting things between which we can choose, unless we are afraid and unsure of the very act of choosing in itself.
Isn’t that what a well-rounded education is all about?
The Rev. Peter J. Andrews leads St. Theresa and St. Christopher Roman Catholic Churches in Tiverton. For more information, log on to sstandctiverton.org. The Clergy Corner, written by various clergy in Newport County, appears each week in The Daily News.