Editor,
This is in response to Terry Anker’s recent column as well as all who believe that prayer is banned in public schools. I was employed in a New York state public school for over 30 years and never found a case in which a student or employee was prevented from saying a prayer. We can all pray wherever we happen to find ourselves. No one has the ability to control your thoughts as yet and prayer can be silent. There was no school imposed prayer, and I was very thankful for that fact. In this country, we are multi-cultural and represent many religions. There is no way of insuring that a school-imposed prayer would be one agreeing with my own religious beliefs. As a child, I participated in the recital of The Lord’s Prayer in my public school. This publicly led prayer seemed to have no influence on the bad behavior of those in my class who were always poorly behaved. The impression it left with me was that such a rote recitation was totally meaningless. I continue to feel this way about any rote recitation of prayer. We all have the right in this country to teach our children about our own personal religious beliefs and to take them to houses of religion for this purpose. We do not have the right to impose our beliefs on others.
Charla Flynn
46032