I love God and I love prayer! And you probably know that I work to help equip students to share God’s word in their schools, which I believe is important and good for them to do.
So it might be a surprise to you when I say that I’m not a big proponent of mandatory prayer in public schools. Here’s why:
Prayer can be private between an individual and God or it can be part of a conversations among believers with God. But when we attempt to force someone pray, the conversation with God pretty much ends.
Moments of Silence can be good, but I don’t think they are necessary. Every believer can talk with God any time she or he chooses. It doesn’t need to be a special time set aside only for prayer. We don’t need to close our eyes or say words out loud so other people can hear. Some of my most intense praying is done in the split second between hearing a teen’s heartbreaking story and my response. The prayer is something like this: “God, you love this girl (or guy) so much and they’re hurting so badly! Speak to them through me and tell them what you want them to hear so they can get through this pain.” But I don’t even say those words in my mind–they come from deep inside my heart and God hears them and begins answering that prayer before I even realize it. I don’t need to stop and bow my head or mumble words for God to hear me or answer me.
What I would absolutely love to see would be some Christian teens filled with enough of God’s love for her or his fellow students to just stop and pray for someone who is hurting at school. And maybe ask another Christian teen to join in that prayer. No one would need to know what they were doing because God would know and that is enough. I believe that if Christian teens would begin to this, God would work in a mighty way in our schools–by surrounding hurting teens with his love, by having his people befriend teens who feel like outcasts, by giving Christian teens the courage to stand up for their peers who are mistreated or discriminated against and by letting teens who feel unloved or unlovable that they God and his people truly do love them.
So, I don’t support mandatory prayer in public schools, but I do support and pray for REAL prayer in public schools. But more than that, I pray that God will give one or two teens who love him the courage to start doing it and doing it soon.
He needs someone to start. How about you?
prayer in public schools? [Question from Formspring]
Posted: 25th February 2011 by WHYDavid in Formspring Questions, God Talk0