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From: jonw@azure.UUCP (Jonathan White)
Newsgroups: net.religion,net.politics
Subject: Re: Followup on promotion of Non-God.....
Message-ID: <2619@azure.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 16-Mar-84 12:40:06 EST
Article-I.D.: azure.2619
Posted: Fri Mar 16 12:40:06 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 21-Mar-84 08:38:25 EST
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 33

Don Stanwyck writes:

   I do worry about a system (as we have today) where groups who promote
   non-God have access to public facilities, where God-promoting groups do
   not.  The example I have given several people in private letters is my high
   school years - several years ago - when a group of us, non-denominational,
   not even all Christian, wanted to have a room at school for study of religion
   (including introduction to each others belief systems) similar, at least to
   us, to the groups studying chess, TM, biology, or other academic/quasi-
   religious subjects.  Because we were up front about wanting to study religion
   (including Bible, Koran, etc.), we were told we could not meet before or
   after school on the school premises.  Another year some of us wanted to have
   a room we could meet in for prayer before school, on a volentary basis, and
   (of course) we were denied access.  

Although I have no statistics to cite, I suspect that Don's experience is
highly atypical.  My highschool (in suburban Houston) had a Bible Club that 
was a virtual haven for the Jesus Freaks.  My mother, who is a substitute
teacher there, recently informed me that the club is still going strong.
And according to an article on the front page of the March 5 Wall Street 
Journal, the Constitutional amendment that bans state-conducted prayer in the 
schools is widely ignored in some parts of the country.

I have a difficult time sympathizing with anyone who claims that Christianity
is not getting a fair shake in this country.  We have a president who has used 
our tax dollars to promote a "Year of the Bible," legislators who are trying to
force prayer on our children via public schools, tax exemptions for wealthy and
politically powerful churches, and a Supreme Court that allows local governments
to spend our tax money to promote a particular religion during the Christmas
season.

			Jon White
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