Prayer in Schools?

What's your opinion?


I receive this in an email...


DARRELL SCOTT TESTIMONY

Guess our national leaders didn't expect this. On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful. They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness. The following is a portion of the transcript:

"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain Their blood cries out for answers.

"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.

"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best. This was written way before I knew I would be speaking here today:


Your laws ignore our deepest needs;
Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our heritage,
You've outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!

"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need m ore restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.

I challenge every young person in America, and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!

My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"


Do what the media did not - - let the nation hear this man's speech. Please send this out to everyone you can.

Re: Prayer in Schools?

i do not believe that prayer beongs in the schools

Re: Prayer in Schools?

I have mixed feelings- I teach in a very diverse community- I have students who are Catholic, Muslim, Jehovah's Witnesses, and a smattering of other faiths. Thankfully, they get along well and are accepting of each other's faith. I jsut don't know how prayer could be brought into a classroom in a way that is inclusive of everyone, including the children who don't believe in any higher power (and since a lot of these kids hear gunshots on the streets outside their homes, who would I be to convince them that God exists?)

My students ask me if they can pray, usually before our big exams and I always tell them that they can, but I also emphasize to them that faith is a personal and private thing and everyone needs to respect each others' ways.

My school uses a program called PeaceBuilders that's been moderately successful. It's based on principles like kindness, not putting down others, seeking out wise people as friends, noticing their wrongs and making amends. They could be called "Christian" values but I think they are "human" values and that is the kind of thing that needs to be in the schools, because it is inclusive of everyone, regardless of faith.

Re: Prayer in Schools?

Re: Prayer in Schools?

While my heart truly goes out to this man and his entire family, I think there were much larger influences at work than the absence of prayer in school.

I don't think prayer belongs in public school. However, the presence of prayer and the ability to talk about religion, spitiuality, and the role of God in our lives is one of the reasons I would seriously consider Catholic school if and when I have children. IMO, it does make a difference.

Re: Prayer in Schools?

With separation of church and state I don't think we ever should force or require prayer in public school, but I do think there should be more focus on teaching ethics, values, and morals.

Message edited 7/18/2006 8:54:24 PM.

Re: Prayer in Schools?

Re: Prayer in Schools?

Prayer is personal and private and is not something that should be done in the school process IMO

Re: Prayer in Schools?

That's why there are catholic schools. There shouldn't be prayer in public school.

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I don't think prayer belongs in schools, but I am all for the pledge of allegiance being said in school. I do think the "One nation under God" is okay. I guess I stated a hipocracy.

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I do not believe prayer belongs in school...unless it's a religious school, like Catholic School or Temple or whatever other schools there are for other religions.

Re: Prayer in Schools?

Re: Prayer in Schools?

First of all the lead up is completely hyped up and hyperbolic (Everyone needs to read this...as if it's so compelling..it isn't). He does not even have his most basic facts correct, and I am VERY sorry that his daughter died such a tragic death but what does it have to do with prayer in schools? You can no more force someone to pray than you can force them not to pray. If kids want to pray in school they can sit in class and pray, take a walk outside or ina silent hallway, or start a chapter of one of the many religious clubs in schools (My HS had a "Seekers" club with over 200 members...they prayed together every day). Would prayer in school have changed the Columbine killers? I'm thinking absolutely no. Designated prayer time would be like study hall. The kids who are concerned with school (prayer) who would do their homework (pray) regardless, will do it, the kids who aren't will just goof off, write notes, daydream, whatever. Kids can go home and pray if they want to. it doens't have to be on school grounds. I honestly don't see what prayer in school has to do with columbine, cain and abel, and all of the unhappy **** this guy is spouting

Re: Prayer in Schools?

Re: Prayer in Schools?

I don't know, I'm kind of split on this topic. I went to private schools my entire life. My husband went to public high school.

It is this whole subject that ties my stomach in knots. He and I argue about where our children will be going to school, for their formative years. We both agree that they should go to private high school.

Re: Prayer in Schools?

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I also want to add his daughter was SHOT and yet this is a thinly veiled support speech for the NRA....



Is this email legit?

I hon estly can't imagine this man making this speech

Re: Prayer in Schools?

Haha Snopes agrees with me...the lead up is misleading and unneccesary:

Origins: Darrell
Scott is the father of Rachel Scott, one of the Columbine High School students murdered during the killing spree of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in Littleton, Colorado, on 20 April 1999. (His son Craig — who helped turned Cassie Bernall into a martyr by mistakenly claiming one of the killers had asked her if she believed in God and then shot her for answering "Yes" — was also kneeling in the school library next to two students as they were shot to death.) On 27 May 1999, Darrell Scott spoke before a House judiciary sub-committee during a hearing on "Pending Firearms Legislation and the Administration's Enforcement of Current Gun Laws" and delivered the comments quoted above.

That Darrell Scott spoke the words attributed to him is fact. However, the opening and closing comments appended to the Internet-circulated version of them are misleading and erroneous.

What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful. They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well.
Darrell Scott didn't say anything to our "national leaders," nor is it true that his testimony was "not received well." Scott was not delivering testimony to a crowded House chamber full of incredulous, unprepared, and shocked Congressmen; he was talking to a few sub-committee members and a stenographer. He was only one of many people who gave testimony to the Subcommittee on Crime, and it's unlikely that most Congressmen heard what he said, or even knew that he had testified. His words certainly didn't prompt outrage from an unreceptive audience, as implied here.

It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert!

Why does everyone need to hear these words? Darrell Scott didn't say much of anything of substance beyond offering the opinion that gun control wouldn't have prevented the tragedy at Columbine, an opinion that had already been aired and debated by thousands of pundits in the weeks after the shootings at Littleton, and while his status as the parent of a murder victim may lend his words extra poignancy, it doesn't necessarily give him any special insight into the reasons why people kill. As well, much of his testimony was directed at creating the misleading impression that prayer is banned in public schools. (It isn't — only prayer organized or led by school officials is prohibited. Students in public schools can pray whenever they want, so long as they don't disrupt ordinary classroom activities.)


Be courageous enough to do what the media did not — let the nation hear this man's speech.
"The media" didn't prevent anyone from hearing Mr. Scott's speech; most news outlets simply didn't give it much coverage because it wasn't particularly newsworthy. As noted above, Mr. Scott really didn't offer much of substance, and what he did have to say had already been said earlier and louder by many others. Also as noted above, Mr. Scott was merely one of many people who gave testimony in front of the House Subcommittee on Crime in the wake of the Littleton shootings. Other parents of shooting victims spoke as well, but you won't find that fact acknowledged here, much less any indication of what they said. Why should their words be any less important than Darrell Scott's? (Perhaps the reason they're not mentioned is because their opinions didn't agree with Mr. Scott's, and therefore didn't agree with the opinions of whoever wrote the prologue and coda to this piece.) In spite of all that, Darrell Scott's speech was reported by the Associated Press and picked up by several big-city newspapers, hardly evidence of a hostile "media" conspiracy to suppress it and thereby prevent the world at large from hearing it.

When someone speaks words that we truly need to hear, it isn't necessary to lie about them to get our attention.

Message edited 7/20/2006 8:37:35 AM.

Re: Prayer in Schools?

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Message edited 7/20/2006 9:05:26 AM.