Freethought-Now

A new Pew survey has found that many Americans support teacher-led prayer in public schools. Cue the inevitable headlines. But buried beneath the topline is a finding that feels both more interesting and more American: Almost nobody thinks students should be required to participate.

Only 7 percent of Americans support mandatory participation in teacher-led prayer. In other words, Americans remain deeply committed to a principle that extends far beyond religion: We don’t like being told what to do.

As a nation, we’re often divided on politics, faith and culture. We disagree on just about everything. Just this morning, my friends and I were divided on the appeal of avocado toast. Yet somehow we’ve managed to build a broad consensus around a surprisingly simple idea: If you want to pray, pray. If you don’t, don’t.

Honestly, that’s not a bad place to start.

The survey arrives at a fascinating moment. According to Pew’s Religious Landscape Study, the Christian share of the population has declined significantly over the past two decades while nearly three in 10 Americans now identify as religiously unaffiliated.

Our communities look different from the way they did when I was growing up. Our schools certainly do.

A public school classroom today might include evangelical Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, atheists, agnostics and a whole lot of kids who haven’t spent much time thinking about any of it because they’re busy worrying about algebra, driver’s ed or whether they remembered deodorant.

That’s normal. In fact, it’s beautiful.

One of the things I appreciate most about public schools is that they’re one of the few places left where people from different backgrounds still have to share space. Not online. Not in carefully curated social circles. In real life.

It’s a lofty goal, but that shared experience works best when nobody is expected to prove they belong.

And that’s why conversations about school prayer can sometimes miss the point.

The question isn’t whether students should be allowed to pray. They already can.

The question is whether authority figures should be organizing religious exercises in spaces that belong equally to everyone.

These are very different things.

When teachers, coaches or administrators lead prayer, the issue isn’t necessarily the prayer itself. It’s the subtle message that participation is expected. For some students, that’s no big deal. For others, it can be the moment they realize they’re different from everyone else in the room.

Most of us can remember what it felt like to be 12 years old. Drawing attention to yourself was rarely on the list of things you hoped would happen before lunch.
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The beauty of state/church separation is that it solves this problem simply and elegantly.

Students who want to pray are free to pray.

Students who don’t want to pray are free not to.

Nobody has to explain themselves.

Nobody has to opt out.

Nobody has to wonder whether they belong.

For all the hand-wringing that surrounds debates over religion in public life, I suspect that’s what many Americans are actually responding to in this survey. Not a desire for government-sponsored religion, but a recognition that faith means more when it’s freely chosen.

As America becomes more religiously diverse, that principle only becomes more important.

Because at the end of the day, a classroom isn’t supposed to be a congregation.

It’s a community.

And communities work best when there’s room for everyone.

Disclaimer: The views in this column are of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

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