This stuff irks me.
Don’t get me wrong. I would love it if prayers were still prayed publicly in schools. I would love it if the Scripture were read in schools (or any other public arena for that matter.)
However to suggest that God is not in schools is preposterous.
To say it suggests that Godly teachers leave their faith at the door and don’t pray for the children in their classes.
To say it suggests that Godly administrators and staff members do not in any way carry their faith into schools and the relationships that are established with children and families in those schools.
To say it suggests that God is not present as Godly parents and volunteers pray for and are present in schools on a daily basis.
To say that God is not in schools is to make a massive theological statement about God – namely that God is not omnipresent (in all places). Isn’t it one of the pillars of mainstream theological thinking that God is omnipresent? How then can God’s people, who would generally state that God is omnipresent in the world, say that somehow God can be banished from public schools?
The sooner God’s people begin to understand that God is omnipresent (in all places – everywhere) and that God resides within them by the power of God’s Spirit, and that God can no more be “removed” from public schools than the sun can fail to rise and set each day, the better.
And the sooner God’s people quit mindlessly and thoughtlessly jumping on to the bandwagon of this ridiculous pandering of political fear the better. Religious persecution does take place. It is a reality, and Christians are the most persecuted religious grouping in the world. But the removal of prayer from schools is not an act of religious persecution. Removal of prayer from schools is an act in line with a political ideology and constitutional foundation (in USA) that separates church and state.
My suggestion is this: instead of ‘liking and sharing’ a social media post, how about joining with your brothers and sisters in Christ at your church’s prayer meeting and praying for your local schools, teachers, and pupils? How about volunteering in your local school and getting to know the teachers and pupils there. And then pray for them too.
The bottom line is this: God’s presence and glory in the world are manifest most greatly though the quiet and consistent actions, and the humble witness of God’s people in the world. When God’s people are in local schools, God cannot be absent from school.
So stop posting preposterous pictures like the one above.
Please!
From the depths... 