THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 9, 1994 TAG: 9412090642
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ESTHER DISKIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
A coalition of Virginia religious leaders, including bishops of two Protestant denominations, and several rabbis, is urging the state Board of Education to think hard before promoting organized prayer in Virginia's public schools.
The group, calling itself the Virginia Coalition for Religious Freedom, plans to announce a set of proposals today that would maintain strong limits on group prayer but make it clear that students have the right to pray privately.
The coalition's approach rests on a unifying theme: In public schools, where students do not share a common faith, religion must be treated in a way that avoids alienating or coercing any students.
``When you have a diverse community, you are on very thin ice just by offering a prayer,'' said Richard Smith, rabbi at Congregation Or Atid in Richmond and a member of the coalition. ``You'll make someone uncomfortable, and that's not what we want to do. I don't believe that a diverse group has to come together and pray publicly.''
The coalition's leaders did not release the specific language of their suggestions before their conference at St. Paul's Church this afternoon. However, in general, they take a strong stand against organized prayer during class time or at major school events, even if students organize it.
Teachers, they say, should have only a limited role at any prayer gatherings, because their position as public authorities sends a substantial message.
But the coalition is equally concerned about respecting students' freedom to pray as individuals during school hours, as long as they do not disrupt classmates. Students who participate in Bible study clubs should have equal access to classroom meeting space, the group says.
The coalition is making its suggestions one week before the attorney general's office and state Department of Education are expected to submit a first draft of guidelines on religious expression in public schools. Public hearings on the guidelines would be held in late February.
During its 1994 session, the General Assembly endorsed voluntary, student-initiated prayer and ordered the nine-member state Board of Education to adopt guidelines to help school administrators understand and comply with constitutional restrictions.
The Virginia debate will unfold in the shadow of national dialogue about a constitutional amendment permitting voluntary prayer in public schools.
A complete list of the coalition's members was not available, but the group includes Bishop Peter J. Lee of the Episcopal diocese of Virginia; Bishop Thomas B. Stockton, head of the Virginia conference of the United Methodist Church; Dow Chamberlain, a Methodist minister and executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy; and representatives of the American Jewish Congress, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and People for the American Way.
The Virginia clergy said they are laying out their ideas now, before the state releases its draft guidelines, because they want to offer an affirmative statement rather than a negative reaction.
``Clergy can help the debate by de-politicizing some of these issues,'' said Green, legal director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a 50,000-member nonprofit group that is part of the coalition. ``There is the perception that only atheists and agnostics are against school prayer . constitutional amendment to reinstate school prayer.''
While many religious leaders are privately struggling with the question of religion in public schools, some have been reluctant to make public statements because of the divisiveness of the issue, coalition members say.
Discord has already rumbled through the coalition. The Rev. C.N. Dombalis, vicar of the Greek Orthodox churches of Virginia, declined to join the coalition's meeting today because he does not share their opposition to prayer at major school events.
Dombalis, who grew up speaking Greek to his immigrant parents in their North Carolina home, said classroom prayers helped him forge a relationship with God during his youth. The Greek Orthodox Church in Raleigh was quite a distance from his home, so his only regular exposure to prayer came at school and before meals.
``My mental posture towards prayer was acquired as a young student in the public school system of North Carolina,'' Dombalis wrote to the coalition's leaders. ``To withhold nondenominational prayers from students at significant stages in their lives (graduation) would betray the influences upon my youth where I first caught a glimpse of the meaning of life.''
Dombalis said he does not worry that such prayers will pressure Greek Orthodox children to convert. ``We've been around for 2,000 years. . . . I don't think we have any phobias that our children will be proselytized to another faith.''
But Smith, rabbi at Congregation Or Atid, said his greatest fear is that group prayer at school will make children of minority faiths feel ostracized. Throughout history, Jews have suffered persecution for their faith, he said, and that gives them a well-founded concern about what could happen in a move toward collective prayer.
``At the very least, it is alienating,'' he said. ``In some cases, it makes people feel for a lifetime as an outsider.'' by CNB