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I would like to offer my sincere thanks for this opportunity to address not only this group but this timely subject. Begin by setting my context for these comments. I am a parent of three school age children: a high school student, a middle school student, and an elementary school student, all of whom are enrolled in the public schools in Waynesboro, Virginia. My wife is a first grade teacher in that same school system. Some days, all we talk about is school. I am also a Southern Baptist pastor who is conservative and evangelical in my approach to ministry. I am deeply troubled by the decay and erosion of morality that seems to beset our nation at this time in our history.
Having said that, I want to urge you to resist those who advocate the government as the instigator, promoter and advocate of religious faith. A Virginia Baptist has a unique perspective on this subject. In our state we tried joining the church and the government in an attempt to insure religious place in society and its influence on public life. All Virginia Baptists had to show for that unholy wedding were some cracked skulls and hard time in local jails. Two hundred years ago Baptist preachers like James Ireland and William Webber found themselves in the Culpeper and Chesterfield jails because there was no religious freedom extended by the government. The Baptists rose up along with others, and Thomas Jefferson led the way to our passing the Act for Establishing Religious Freedom. This was the forerunner to the work of James Leland and James Madison's introducing the First Amendment that has served us well for 204 years this December. So, when I hear the clamor for weaving together religious doctrine and legislation, I say: "Been there, done that." Please don't send us back.
Instead of knee-jerk legislative or judicial reaction to our social and moral quagmire, why not let the religious community do what we are called to do ... promote God? What we need from you is neutrality. Please do not infringe upon our religious activity unnecessarily. Please do not give us too many pats on the back. Too often those pats turn into shoves, and we get pushed into places and positions where we don't belong. Instead of opening a Pandords box with a Constitutional amendment, why not affirm all that we are able to do as a result of a series of Supreme Court interpretations and rulings across the years?
As it now stands, we can:
* have religious clubs and groups on campus use released time for * legitimate Bible study and instruction * have equal access to school facilities, just like others * teach and study about religion and its role in our history and our lives. * pray the way Jesus teaches us to pray. Matthew 6 pointedly declares that authentic prayer is not public, but private. Apparently the Bible retains its title of "most talked about, least read book" among Christians. Public prayers are little more than posturing, Jesus says, and are not what he envisioned his church getting all lathered up about. We can "pray without ceasing" at school now. We can pray with our friends around the flag pole in the morning, when the teacher hands out the Algebra test in the afternoon, and as we are running onto the football field at night. That's more prayer than most of us know what to do with anyway.
* have appropriate Baccalaureate services at the students' discretion. Tomorrow night I will preach to the Senior Class of Waynesboro High School. It will be at a Baccalaureate service they have organized, to be held in the local Presbyterian church. It will be for those who want to come, not required. I will be able to preach the Gospel freely. No one will edit my sermon or my thoughts. I may even have an altar call. Isn't that better than trying to deliver some dumbed-down prayer at a graduation ceremony that ends up being demeaning to the true nature of our faith and our prayer life?
Despite what some of the shrill voices would have us believe, we have great freedom in this country to be religious.
There is no doubt that our nation is hemorrhaging. Our families are our building blocks for society, and they are falling apart. The list of social ills is longer and more complex than I even want to think about. We are in trouble. Vocal religious leaders are blaming the government because that is easier than accepting responsibility for a history of self-serving religion that means we religious types have helped create this crisis in our nation's soul.
I know you want to provide some needed and necessary treatment and healing. But please, do not apply the band-aid of a constitutional religious amendment of some type to this critically ill patient. We have worked hard to create the level playing field that we now have regarding our practice of religion. Let the church do what it does best in its best moments, and you go about the work of maintaining the fair and just society that has enabled America to become the most religious nation in the world.