Sharing the Faith

Today I am more of a fan of Christian-based educational systems than I ever was before.  And there is a very good reason for that.

When I was little and attended school, we put on a Christmas play each year.  I remember this vividly because one year I was given the role of one of the angels and we got to sing, "Gloria in Excelsis Deo," which in Latin means -- Glory to God in the Highest.  While I certainly don't remember praying in school, there was somewhat of a sense of the importance of faith.  At my older grandchildren's school maybe just eight years ago they were still singing Christian hymns for the Christmas program.  It's been sanitized since.

Enter Madeline Murray O'Hare -- a self-proclaimed atheist and a founder of an atheist group.  She was born April 13, 1919 and died on September 29, 1995.  Her body and that of her son and granddaughter were found in hastily dug graves in Texas.  I don't believe her killer/killers were ever found.

O'Hare was relentless in her attack on prayer in schools and she launched all kinds of legal battles to get God out of the schools.  And unfortunately, despite the fact that our forefathers had an entirely different concept of the separation of church and state, she was able to achieve her goal.  Schools are entirely secular now -- kind of milquetoast places where Thanksgiving is now the Fall Festival for example.  Children get nothing about God in school.  The history of our country would be remiss without some discussion of faith and freedom, but people who have made it into high positions have worked to rid books of a lot of the important facts about life in America.

They said the other day that a lot of children in the schools today don't know what 9/11 signifies.  That was only in 2001!!!  Kind of scary to me.

And that's why I am such a proponent of Christian schools.  Children in the Christian school pray, learn prayers, and in some cases attend services.  Their lessons are infused with the importance of God in our lives and how bland and meaningless a life based on material things really is.  They learn the value of charity towards others.  They are encouraged to be kind and encouraging to others.  There is no one to tell them that the principal can't get on the PA and lead everyone in a prayer for a classmate or a teacher.

The other day there was an article in the paper about a school where the principal and the teachers formed a prayer group.  They communicated with each other the names of those who needed prayers.  The school system shut it down.  Done.  At a university, a cross on the back of the helmets of football players had to be removed because apparently it was offensive to someone.  The cross was to remember two people in the football program who had died.

Even in a secular society, the value of prayer has been proven.  Prayers said in a surgical suite resulted in a better outcome for patients than those operated on in a suite without prayer.  The doctors and nurses were very amazed by this.  Imagine if they were all believers!!

If you have nieces or nephews, grandchildren, children in the public schools -- talk to them about what is important.  Make sure that they hear it not just from you but from others because that reinforces what you are saying.  Talk about 9/11.  You don't have to scare them to death to do this.  Make sure that you pray WITH them at least once each day.  Have them spend time with other Christian children through Sunday School or teen programs.  And actually what I am saying goes for the Jewish faith as well.

I'm not going to talk about the Islamic faith right now.  I'm confused.  They are arguing among themselves about what the Quran represents or doesn't represent.  Those who engage in terrorism say they follow the Quran.  Those who don't participate in terrorism aren't standing up or differentiating themselves.  Mosques in America have furthered the message of terrorism.  So for right now, I say nothing.  If the Quran does not support terrorism, then have the guts to say so.

Life lived sitting on a fence never turns out very well, does it?

So share the message of faith with the children.  It has an incredible power for good in this world. 

(By the way, Neil Cavuto had a special on his Fox business segment on the loss of prayer in the schools and how we are now seeing the effects of it.)