A Rant

This is going to be an unusual post for me...if you don't want to hear a mini rant on religion and politics, you might want to skip this post.

As all of you are aware by now, there was an incredibly tragic school shooting in Connecticut last week. I was very upset by this, as most of the world was. My heart still breaks for the families whose lives will never be the same. It was a senseless tragedy.

This tragedy has also brought up a lot of issues, primarily gun control. I have my feelings on that, but that's not what's on my mind today. What's on my mind is God. Specifically, the ridiculous articles I've read quoting politicians who claim the tragedy in Newtown happened because "we've systematically removed God from our schools."

I beg to differ.

Do you honestly think that God decided He was going to let dozens of innocent children get killed because the (secular) government doesn't allow prayer requests in class? How on earth can people honestly believe that? As a religious woman, I am quite frankly outraged that someone claiming to share my religious beliefs could make such an asinine statement. 

God is very much in our schools. God is very much in our workplaces. God is everywhere. As a child, I attended both public and parochial schools. Did I ever get treated differently because I was open about my Christian faith? No. Was I ever told I wasn't allowed to pray? No. Last I checked, prayer is a conversation between an individual and God. It isn't something that has to be conducted in a public forum. I prayed just as frequently in public school as I did in private school. 

There are no laws that prevent students of faith from coming together and praying. No one's going to get kicked out of school for saying a quick prayer with a friend at their locker. If you want teachers to lead you in prayer daily, there are parochial schools you can attend. Don't have the money for it? There are scholarships and charities that will make it more feasible for you. But FYI - as a former student of a parochial high school, I can attest that typically pre-class prayer requests become more of a way to eat into class time rather than the well-meaning prayers they ought to be.

By attending a public school, parents or guardians are knowingly sending their children to a place that is meant to be free of religion. Public schools are run by the state. Separation of church and state...that whole thing. This is not an attack on your religion. This is not belittling you for having faith in things unseen. Believe it or not, it's actually protecting you. It's freedom from all religions. These guidelines and laws prevent groups like Westboro Baptist Church and other hate groups from parading around schools on religious grounds. It prevents a young Muslim child from having to participate in prayers to a Hindu god. It prevents a young Christian from having to fast at Ramadan. Freedom from religion allows each person to live according to the beliefs they have without forcing them on anyone else. Want to pray to Jesus? Go for it. Just don't force the Jewish kid down the hallway to participate. 

No one's going to get kicked out of school for silently praying before an exam. If you're a devout Muslim and you need to pray five times a day, go talk to the school office and they'll most likely allow you to do so, provided you do so in private. I remember being jealous of Jewish kids when I saw on syllabi that students could miss classes on days we didn't already have off for religious reasons. 

No one's trying to "systematically remove" God from schools. And if anyone honestly thinks they are capable of doing that, it's laughable. God is so much more than a public prayer session. God's inside the hearts of believers, and that's something that will never be stamped out of any school.

I don't know about you, but I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that my God was there in Newtown. He was there with the students who sat silently in a tiny bathroom, hoping they would survive the day. He was there providing strength to the teacher who was killed while telling the shooter her students were in the gym while they were actually hiding in the closet. He was there in the hearts of people who came out to comfort and provide for those hurting.

Don't you dare tell me that my God abandoned anyone because a secular institution doesn't allow public prayer inside its walls. 

My God is so much more powerful than that.