A long standing tradition that is practiced around the country was forced to come to an end at my alma-matter in rural Arkansas.
The Dover School District, a school half the size of Kosciusko, recently got a letter from the Freedom from Religion Foundation saying that the way they pray before football is illegal and threatened a lawsuit against the district.
The U.S. Supreme Court did decide in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe that a policy allowing student-led prayer at school football games was unconstitutional. It held that these pre-game prayers delivered "on school property, at school-sponsored events, over the school's public address system, by a speaker representing the student body, under the supervision of school faculty, and pursuant to a school policy that explicitly and implicitly encourages public prayer" are not private, but public speech. "Regardless of the listener's support for, or objection to, the message, an objective Santa Fe High School student will unquestionably perceive the inevitable pregame prayer as stamped with her school's seal of approval."
The FFRF interpretation of the decision was loose, since the case said nothing about prayer over the loudspeaker for those not connected to the school, but was focused on student-led prayer. However, like most districts my alma-matter chose not to go through a lengthy and expensive legal battle against this organization.
Why are these arguably drastic actions taking place on campuses across the country? For the sake of political correctness.
Merriam-Webster defines politically correct as “agreeing with the idea that people should be careful to not use language or behave in a way that could offend a particular group of people.”
As expected, many in the community were not happy about it and fear that this event will lead to more complaints around the nation.
Since political correctness arose to deal with the very serious matter of keeping the peace, a debate over whether it’s of benefit or detriment to society has sprung up in recent years.
A prayer before a meeting or a prayer for the safety of players in a contest is not an endorsement from a school, but merely a time for some reflect or call to a higher power for guidance.
Being politically correct has become a big problem in this country with too many people afraid of hurting someone else’s feelings.
Joseph Brown is the editor and publisher of The Star-Herald. He can be reached at jbrown@starherald.net
