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40

Shall We Pray?
G

Now, Mr. Imerman is leading the lo-
rowing up in Birming-
ham, Larry Imerman cal charge against those who want a con-
would start every day in stitutional amendment permitting
public school with the students to say group prayers in the pub-
Pledge of Allegiance. lic schools.
It appeared as if the battle over school
Hand over his heart, he
would recite the words prayer had been settled by a series of
Supreme Court decisions decades ago.
from memory.
But the morning ritual did not end with But, after last year's election when Re-
publicans secured control of the U.S.
"...liberty and justice for all."
Instead, the students would fold their House and Senate, they reintroduced the
hands and wait for the teacher's cue, lead- idea of the amendment, praising it as a
ing them into their next morning ritual, solution for the ills of the public-school
system.
"The Lord's Prayer."
Now the issue divides the nation. One
"I think it made me a better Jew be-
side,
including the Religious Right and
cause it made me realize that I was dif-
some
Jews, praises prayer as the solution
ferent," he said.

to everything from teen pregnancy to vio-
lence in the schools.
Rabbi Daniel Lapin, the president of To-
ward Tradition, a Jewish conservative or-
ganization based near Seattle, said he
would not be opposed to nondenomina-
tional prayers.
"At a time when every poll shows that
Americans favor prayer in school, how can
the Jewish community, who after all in-
troduced God to the world, explain its po-
sition that it is the most vehement
opponent to communicating with God?"
he said.
But others do not see prayer as a cure-
all for the woes of school-aged children;
rather they see it as a threat to the very

ideals the country was founded upon, in-
cluding the Establishment Clause which
separates church and state.
"There is no such thing as a nonde-
nominational prayer," said Harriet
Abrahm, director of the Tampa, Fla., chap-
ter of the American Jewish Committee.
"That is an oxymoron. There is no such
thing. It would be Judeo-Christian and
where would that leave the people who
are not Jewish or Christian?
"It narrows the view of the fabric of
what makes up the material of our coun-
try. It should be OK to be a Muslim."
Last month, the president-elect of the
American Bar Association spoke out
against school prayer. She told a group of