Ignoring the devil inside

For 49 years, an eight-foot tall prayer hung on the wall near a high school auditorium where it served as a sort of moral guidance. Written by a seventh grader, it instructs people to smile when they lose as much as when they win; to desire growth mentally, physically and morally; to be kind and helpful; to learn the value of friendship; to perform at their fullest; to be honest to themselves and their peers; and to be kind and helpful. The prayer opens with "Our Heavenly Father" and concludes with "Amen."

Although this prayer was designed to be a moral compass, 16-year-old atheist Jessica Alquisht found it to be a reminder she didn't belong to the primarily Roman Catholic high school. The teenager was baptized in a Catholic church, but said she stopped believing in God when her mother fell ill.

In a successful lawsuit, the court found the prayer to be unconstitutional and said it must be removed from school grounds.

Although this prayer is very openly Christian, what does its removal say to the high school and the public? Does it encourage religious tolerance or intolerance?

Alquisht received threats from various religious groups and was escorted by police to school. Even at school, she was socially rejected by peers, behavior that reflects an inability to appreciate what's different. This inability was in the flower shops that refused to provide service to her, by the Congressman that called her an "evil little thing," and in those that snubbed her in her own community. If students were taught how to communicate their ideas without hate, maybe there would have been no social stigmatization of Alquisht.

The United States was founded on a belief of religious tolerance, and offered a sanctuary to those seeking to escape religious persecution. This was a luring quality that brought many families overseas, away from the culture and people they knew, to exercise their beliefs in harmony. Avoiding this topic is breeding a mentality that, "If you're not like me, you are not human." Just what are Americans gaining from this?

Being atheist didn't stop Alquisht from appreciating the Harry Potter Series, which was written by J.K. Rowling, a pronounced Christian. Similarly, one doesn't have to be Muslim to appreciate art or texts by Muslims. One doesn't have to be Buddhist to find beauty in Buddhist or Hindi texts.

The prayer does allude to the Christian God, but it encourages people to better themselves in ways everyone needs to challenge themselves with once in a while. To smile when one is in their darkest days as much as they do when everything's great is a lesson that many struggle with. To be true to one's self, to perform to one's fullest, and to desire growth mentally, physically and morally are all qualities that anyone can appreciate, regardless of their background.

By not talking about different religions, and by not challenging themselves to go beyond their comfort zones, students aren't learning. They're not learning how to deal with those different from themselves, and they're not learning how to find beauty in what's strange, even if they don't exactly agree with it.

Not having these skills hinder students when communicating and dealing not only with foreigners, but people they'll meet at college or their careers. It's important to find common ground and to respect others if one is going to learn. By simply not acknowledging those different, students are cementing themselves in a wall of ignorance.

Americans might not understand the cultural and religious significance of wars on other turfs unless they're familiar with the beliefs these cultures hold dear.

Even if religion is known to be a loaded topic, it's important to approach it rationally and respectfully. By not talking about it, people are sheltering themselves. They're not learning to better themselves by pretending those that are different don't exist.

Eventually, when a student's views are challenged, they're not going to have the experience of intelligent, rational classroom discussions to know how to deal with it, and instead may be provoked to behave inhumanely. They might feel uncomfortable and be immediately close minded to other ideas.

These qualities don't forward people or don't encourage change – they bind people back.

For all those reasons, the removal of the prayer wasn't just another page in the progress of Americans. Its removal should've been discussed, and how its significance would impact Americans should've been thought about more. What do Americans want to encourage in their youth? Can it be expected that America's selfish reputation overseas will be bettered if America's students aren't taught how to deal with diversity? Despite priding ourselves on being a "melting pot," wouldn't America's actions in this scenario contradict that?

These questions make it more important for schools to address religion, not bar it. What have Americans done and what are Americans doing to open their minds?