E. Ralph Hostetter
Saturday Sept. 22, 2001

The statement was part of a prologue listing values such as flying the American flag, coming together as a nation and a revival of patriotism; values that were rediscovered following the worst terrorist attack on American soil in history, leaving more than 5,000 dead at the New York Trade Towers, the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., and United Flight 93 in a field in Pennsylvania.

Prayers seemed to be on the lips of most Americans this week. President Bush prayed and called for a day of prayer; the Cabinet prayed; the Congress prayed; the Supreme Court prayed; and the churches across America held special prayer services. The prayers for the thousands lost in the carnage came from the lips of Americans all across the land.

But our school children, probably the most frightened and psychologically damaged of all our population, were denied the solace and comfort of seeking help in prayers to their God. Their prayers were denied by a 1963 Supreme Court decision prohibiting prayer on public school property.

And yet the President prayed in the (public) White House; the Supreme Court prayed in the (public) Supreme Court building; the Congress prayed and sang "God Bless America" in the (public) Capitol building. Denial of prayer in public schools resulted from a decision by the high court, under Chief Justice Earl Warren, "interpreting" the "establishment clause" of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The "establishment clause" represents only half of the first clause of the First Amendment.

The term "establishment clause" was coined to give the impression that the entire clause was all about prohibiting Congress from establishing a state religion. Not so!

The complete wording of the clause in the U.S. Constitution is: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of a religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The liberal Warren Court addressed only the first part of the so-called "establishment clause."

The case, Murray v. the United States, involved certain state laws requiring the recitation of the Lord's Prayer and reading of verses from the Bible.

The U.S. Congress had never made any law that could remotely resemble the establishing of a religion.

By apparently ignoring the second part of the "establishment clause' - "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" - the Warren Court, for all intents and purposes, "threw the baby out with the bath water" by denying all prayer in public schools, including voluntary prayers of student bodies.

The term "prohibiting" is a far cry from the "free exercise thereof." The Warren Court, in its zeal to make law, closed the door on all prayer.

Today the Supreme Court decision of 1963 has grafted onto itself the prohibitions of Christmas nativity scenes in public squares as well as the banning of the Ten Commandments, the basic law of civilization, in town halls and court houses across America. "Kick God out of America" seemed to be the movement in this country until 8:42 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001.

A means must be found to have the U.S. Supreme Court re-visit the entire first clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to give meaning to "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." "And we have found God again".....This simple quotation may well pave the way to permit Americans to freely exercise their God-given right - and constitutional right - to pray whenever, or wherever, they wish.