School Prayer and Dragnet

Just the facts. I had posted, on my MySpace blog, a school 'prayer' allegedly by a high school kid. I doubt it, but enjoyed some of the sentiments expressed nonetheless. Some Christians think school prayer was run out of schools by godless barbarians, and some non-Christians celebrate that those fire-breathing religious fanatics were stopped from running their religion down everybody's throat. Here's the facts about school prayer. There was a decision, United States Supreme Court, Engle v. Vitale in 1962. The New York State Board of Regents that runs the public schools, thought it a good public policy to have moral and spiritual training as part of educational development. Part of that was a prayer that was to be recited: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teacher and our Country."
The Board of Education of Union Free School District No. 9 in Hyde Park decided this prayer was not an option, and was going to force students to recite it daily. This ticked off some parents, and they sued using the first amendment, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion". The state court ruled against the parents, and so did the appeals court. The Board of Education and the supporters of the prayer backed down a bit, and said, well, the kids could leave the classroom or not recite the prayer. Do any of us know, or when we were kids ourselves, of any child that would not do was was mandatory for fear of being ostracized? It all went to the Supreme Court, and they said government can't force people to pray. At the end of all the brouhaha, there never was prayer in schools, except maybe before math tests and athletic competition. Both sides need to take a deep breath. As a Christian, I want people to come to God by His Grace. All force does is create resistance. And on the secular side, well, I'll let the secularists think about how they want to act. Just the facts...