Full disclosure: I was going to school when God was expelled. It was the mid-60's and the so-called "progressives" (read: Communists) in education and the politically correct "police" were really beginning to feel their oats and filing lawsuit after lawsuit with the help of those wonderful people in the ACLU, referred to here as the "American Communist Lovers Union." And they were winning unfortunately. The media, movie industry and yes, even churches, were following the same path.
Homeroom began with the standard roll call then some announcements about the day's activities and then one of us was asked to come up and read a verse or two from the Holy Bible that any teacher had on her (or his) desk. After that, sometimes we'd sing God Bless America and then we'd do the Pledge of Allegiance. Interesting fact: there was never a school shooting and teachers were revered. The thought of raising your voice or a fist to a teacher (let alone shooting one) NEVER even crossed our collective minds. Being called to the principal's office struck terror in our hearts and you got in trouble for getting caught in the hall without a hall pass (oh gosh, let me slit my wrist!) or chewing gum in class. You dressed well for school too. There was a "blue jean day" and a "bermuda shorts day" and that was it!
The argument by these left-wing loons (forgive the redundancy) was prayer in schools violated the "separation of church and state" clause in the Constitution. And as one of Hitler's top lieutenants used to say: "If you tell a lie long enough, people will start to believe it." Hitler himself always said, "People will believe a big lie easier than they'd believe a little one." Seems to work every time--since there is no clause in the Constitution about separation of church and state--NONE! The First Amendment simply says that the state itself will not establish a religion. Unlike the Church of England established by King Henry VIII because the Pope wouldn't let him divorce Catherine to marry Ann Boleyn we won't establish a Church of America no matter who the president wants to divorce or behead. (For any "lefties" reading this, that was humor which I know you're unfamiliar with).
Now what's happened in our public schools since we expelled God? It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure this out--just look at the pathetic state of our public schools from discipline problems so horrendous that teachers have having to spend a lot more time than necessary trying to keep those miscreants in line if at all possible rather than teaching to the kids who actually want to learn. Some are downright dangerous. When I did substitute teaching (and we're talking over 20 years ago) I was given a list of the "students" I had in my classes who were assigned a parole officer. This was at a public high school right here in Savannah. Then, the school shootings many of which have a common denominator--drugs. Many of those killing teachers and classmates have been taking or were taking all sorts of emotion-controlling substances.
No less than 36 school shootings, stabbings or bombings resulting in 172 wounded and 80 deaths were committed by kids as young as 12 who were on things like antidepressants Zoloft, Prozac and Risperdal or anxiety drugs like Hydroxyzine while the media was silent as the Spinx on that aspect of these bloodbaths because they wanted to blame the guns and manufacturers thereof. Apparently the knives and bombs were not as evil.
One of the great quotes after the Columbine High School massacre someone asked, "How could God let this happen?" A chaplain nearby said, "We kicked God out of school two decades ago." Apocryphal perhaps, just in case some left-wing fact checker wants to get sideways with me but it proves the point. Ever since God was expelled with the help of our activist courts and the likes of atheists like Madalyn Murray O'Hair who was among those leading the charge but by no means a lone voice, our schools' moral decay has been rampant. There's "no God," there's no "right or wrong" there's no anchor and higher power to look to for help. For the non believers the answer is too simple. Putting God back in the classroom will solve all this? They scoff and laugh at us. I believe it will but not overnight just as it didn't deteriorate overnight either.
And among the effects of all this is a lack of faith in the Almighty overall. Church attendance has dropped off dramatically. Those called to go into the ministry has deteriorated to a trickle. Case-in-point, the church I attend, Trinity Lutheran, has a pastoral vacancy. Our church is affiliated with the Lutheran Church of the Missouri Synod (LCMS) and we are the more conservative branch of the Lutheran Church. There are about 1,600 LCMS churches in the country and 450 of them have pastoral vacancies as well. Our seminary graduated something like 44 pastors last year...you do the math. And we're not alone. Recently I had a conversation with the minister who's retiring from White Bluff Methodist. He told me in the eleven years he's been there he's buried nearly half of the congregation and very few young people are joining. But why should they when they've grown up in a secular world that spits in God's face?
You see, Jesus Christ is a gentleman, he doesn't go where he's not wanted or invited. He tells us to knock on His door and He will answer. Ask Him to come into your heart and He will but his presence is reserved for the knockers and the askers. And we Christians don't go around threatening people to believe and join the movement or we'll cut their heads off. That's another group entirely.
A recent Newsmax survey asked on their website if we should put prayer back in public schools. While not scientific those polled voted 88-percent "yes." Sounds pretty overwhelming to me. In politics we'd call that a "landslide." Let's reestablish prayer in our schools so the kids can have an option. That there is a higher power and an alternative to "better living through chemistry" which has shown disasterous results. Let's give it a decade or so and see if the God option works better than pills.