Sunday, August 8, 2010

Let Us Pray

I was brought up with good values and a strong Christian background and believe this was the foundation of our great Country. However, over the years I have sadly seen that strong Christian foundation begin to crumble. Everyone is so worried about being "politically correct" or "open to all walks of life". Now, I'm not chastising anyone for their personal beliefs here, however, I think if we put God back into the schools, we wouldn't need the metal detectors and drug-sniffing dogs there. I mean our children can pray and read the bible in prison, shouldn't they be doing that in school so they don't end up in prison?

When I was in Ohio, I remember my daughter taking cookies for her class on her birthday and when she came home that day she told me, "Mom, there was a girl in my class who asked our teacher if we could pray before we ate our cookies and she told her we couldn't but she could do it silently to herself if she wanted to. Mom, why aren't we allowed to pray at school?" Needless to say I was appalled!!! My response was this, "honey, you can pray anywhere you want to anytime you want to as loud as you want to!" She replied, "but mommy, I don't want to get in trouble!" I explained to her that she wouldn't and if there was any problem with it, I would deal with it and her school, to go ahead and pray anytime she wanted to!!

I've been here in South Carolina for almost 2 years now (no regrets!!!), and am proud to say that my daughter has made A/B Honor Roll for both school years (yes, I'm a proud momma!). But just as I am very proud of my daughter, I have to say I am even prouder of the school system for which she attends. Now this may be a "southern" thing and seen quite frequently down here but I was very shocked and pleasantly surprised when her school held an academic-focused awards banquet for the students (I'm use to sports-minded banquets). This was my first surprise. Second and the one I admire most, is that before the meal, they said, "Let us pray". WOW!!!! Prayer at a school function? No Way! It literally brought tears to my eyes to know that there are still some schools out there that put aside the idea that including religion into the public school system is a bad thing! I felt very proud of this school for putting aside all the "political correctness" and "someone might be offended" idealism. The school also offers a course outside of the regular curriculum that students can take in lieu of a "study-hall" or "free-elective" called CCLC which is a Christian based study and yes, my daughter chose it and chose it again for this coming year.

So, to this school system I say KUDOS, WELL-DONE, and LET US PRAY!!