Letter: Don’t expel God from public schools

Sunday, March 22, 1998 | 9:30 a.m.

Mel Lipman raises some key issues about religious beliefs and the public schools. No thoughtful citizen would advocate the peddling of distinctive religious doctrines to captive audiences in tax-supported schools. But is there any compelling reason why the creator of the universe and the source of all wisdom and knowledge should not be recognized respectfully in every school?

Since he is recognized in our founding documents, on our coins, in our pledge to the flag, at opening sessions of the Supreme Court, of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and has regularly been acknowledged in presidential speeches from the early days of our republic, and by 98 percent of the U.S. population, why should he be expelled from our public schools?

Once God was expelled from school, an atheistic pseudo-educational system began unleashing droves of barbarians to wreak devastation on the society that gave them birth. Since there is no God, there is no frame of reference for decent conduct. The culture of rebellion is seen in baggy pants that drag on the sidewalk, earrings on navels, tongues and noses, broken bottles, cans and paper waste littering our cities, drug abuse, teen disease and pregnancy, gang-inspired murder and pervasive crime of every kind.

Without God, the inevitable conclusion is that all things somehow started from chance beginnings. They just happened to happen without cause or purpose. So decency has no rewards, and character has no purpose.

The respectful acknowledgement of the Almighty and the practice of conduct consistent with that acknowledgement has been the foundation stone of our nation and civilization. When that foundation crumbles, civilization crumbles.

If God is good enough for Congress and the highest courts, why is he not good enough for the schoolhouse?

Edward Rowe