Heritage Column for March 3
By Fred Anderson
The Virginia General Assembly this session was presented with a proposed constitutional amendment which would have allowed praying and preaching in the public schools.
Introduced by a member of the House of Delegates from Grayson County, the amendment would have added some words to the Virginia Constitution: “The people's right to pray and to recognize their religious beliefs, heritage, and traditions on public property, including public schools, shall not be infringed.” It also carefully would have stated that “the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions, including public school divisions, shall not compose school prayers, nor require any person to join in prayer or other religious activity.”
The delegate from Grayson surely was sincere in his purposes and devout in his own faith. How can anything seemingly so right be so wrong? In the end, the proposal was sent to the Senate Courts of Justice Committee where it had a hearing and a rejection. One Virginia Baptist, Rob James, a retired University of Richmond religion professor, waved in the air the State Department of Education's guidelines on religion in the public schools which if correctly followed, already allows for those religious expressions which properly can be displayed in the schools. There were several problems with the proposed amendment including the possible infringements upon the respect and rights of religious minorities by an overbearing majority.
The Founding Fathers tried to get it right so long ago. At a time in Virginia when a minority known as Baptists suffered under a controlling majority known as Anglicans, Virginia Baptists authored eloquent statements calling for an abolishment of a state religion and for all religious societies to be free. Our forebears groaned under an established religion. They suffered for their faith. Some were beaten, whipped and jailed. Many endured social ridicule for not attending the Anglican Church.
John Leland, the articulate 18th-century Virginia Baptist spokesman, liked to say that all persons-Christians, Jews and “Turks,” believers and non-believers alike-should have freedom of conscience. It was a bold statement. When in the 18th-century would a person in a backwater Virginia village have seen a “Turk” or Muslim? Perhaps a “Turk” would have stepped off a sailing ship in Norfolk. Today in my suburban neighborhood, within a country mile of each other is a Baptist church, a Presbyterian church, a Hindu center and a Buddhist temple. And that's in an all-American place called Glen Allen!
The one unique contribution which America has made to civilization is religious liberty and its twin, the separation of church and state. The latter enables the former to exist. While the words “separation of church and state” are not in the First Amendment, the implication certainly is there. Separation of church and state is a principle on which there should be no division between Baptist moderates and Baptist fundamentalists. These twin principles allow us to live as good neighbors to those who practice other faiths instead of killing each other as we see happening in other countries.
The only role which government is supposed to play is to protect us in exercising our faith. But little by little, Christians who are sincere but misguided keep needling the government to allow intrusion of religion into the public arena.
Each time, the same old arguments are used on both sides. One side blames all the troubles in America on the day when prayer was removed from the public schools yet children and teachers are very likely praying silently at any given moment. We all have heard the funny line that as long as there are exams there will be prayers in the schools.
The Author of our faith pleaded the case for private prayers which are, after all, sincere communions with God. “When you pray, enter your inner room and with your door closed pray to your Father who is there in the secret place …” (Mat. 6:6).
The 2005 Virginia case smacks of the same arguments from a proposal made 80 years ago to require the daily reading in Virginia's public schools of 10 verses from the King James Version. Virginia Baptists mounted a campaign against it. Suddenly, in February 1926, the bill came before a Senate committee and one Virginia Baptist spoke eloquently in opposition. He was George White McDaniel, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Richmond and a president of Virginia's General Association as well as the Southern Baptist Convention. In his times, he was considered downright fundamentalist.
McDaniel used several arguments: “It violates the Golden Rule. How would you like for the State to require the daily reading from the Book of Mormon? It violates the Virginia Bill of Rights. It violates the rights of teachers who cannot conscientiously comply with the law. It wrongs children. One of the surest ways to give a child revulsion for religion is to try to enforce it upon him. It transfers to the State a responsibility which properly belongs to the homes and churches. It mars religious harmony.”
After hearing McDaniel, the Senate committee voted 10 to 4 for indefinite postponement. Editor R.H. Pitt of the Religious Herald (and chairman of the BGAV committee to oppose the bill) reported the results under the headline: “Scotched, If Not Killed.” Last week, the Senate committe voted 10 to 5 to reject the proposed amendment. “Scotched, Once Again!”
Fred Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies. He can be reached at P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.