
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 3, 1990                   TAG: 9006040192
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: D-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: TOM TAYLOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

JUDGES, PRAYER AND THE BIBLE

YOUR EDITORIAL "Church and state in county schools" (May 22) rejoiced that the Bible classes held by Shenandoah County schools have been declared illegal. "It's useful," you said, "to have federal judges around to remind people of such niceties as the separation of church and state."

To this I would ask: useful to whom? According to a study quoted in the May issue of American Family Association Journal, since formal prayer was outlawed in public schools by these "useful" judges in 1962, the pregnancy rate for unwed teen-agers has increased by 500 percent nationwide. For girls under 15, the rate has quadrupled. Meanwhile, the high-school dropout rate went up tenfold, and SAT scores dropped by 72 points.

So it would seem, for those who profit from the collapse of American society and morals (such as abortionists, pornographers, drug pushers, etc.), such judges are indeed useful who see in the Constitution an eradication of Christian influence that America's founders never intended or dreamed of. Or if you are one of the few who does not desire biblical training for his child, and tries to force his choice on everyone else; or if you are an editorial writer for the Roanoke Times & World-News who seemingly applauds the destruction of America's Christian heritage, then these judges are very useful to you.

How very much better it would be if we had federal judges to remind us of such "niceties" as the original intent of the First Amendment of the Constitution, whose second clause prohibits the federal government from interfering with the people's free exercise of religion. According to that clause, if the people of Shenandoah County want Bible classes in their own schools for their own children, the federal government has no authority to interfere.

If federal judges would return to the original meaning and intent of the First Amendment (and if school board attorneys and newspaper editors would do the same), it would be very useful in returning America to the free, stable nation it used to be.

by CNB