I haven't blogged for a long time, but today something happened which prompted me to write again. A friend sent me a story from the internet. The gist of the story is that because prayer is banned in schools,  some students in the US sneezed at a graduation ceremony, and the response "God bless you!" got around the prayer ban.

The real story - quite a bit different than the one sent me by my friend - can be found here at the snopes.com website. The original started around about nine years ago, and since then - like many stories - has undergone exaggeration, and elaboration. There is an element of truth in it, but the whole story itself is not true.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/sneeze.asp

For me, however, the issue is deeper than just a "return to prayer in school." Unfortunately, the whole thrust of that sentiment is that there should be a return to *Christian* prayer in school. This, in turn, is based on the false belief that Canada and the US are Christian countries. Well, we are not, and have not been for several decades.

Unfortunately the belief that we should have Christian prayer in school (and never mind anyone else's forms of prayer) is based in the very set of beliefs which took the Christian church into many countries the world over, supported the forced conversion of many peoples, and the deaths of those who refused. The Christian principles on which this country was supposedly founded mandated that aboriginal children be ripped from their homes and families and sent to residential schools where they would be "re-educated"; those same principles allowed beatings, abuse, punishment for speaking their own language, and forced acceptance of a Christian God. I have had the privilege of sitting in a room listening to those who survived the residential schools talk about their experience. It is painful and heartbreaking.

My husband is not Christian, nor are many other people in this country. If my children had to pray only Christian prayer in school, I would have been first in line objecting.  If school boards were prepared to include prayer from *all* faith traditions equally and without prejudice, I would be the first in line to support it. I believe students in every school should be educated in the beliefs of every faith. Toronto District School Board did make a stab, and prepared a book of prayers and readings from all faith traditions.

This argument can extend as well to Holiday Concerts in schools. There are some schools around me, and around my congregation, which have got the right idea. Yes, they call it a Holiday Concert - because in fact several major religious holidays - most notably Chanukah and Christmas - occur at almost the same time. But those schools have ensured that there is something in the concert representing every single faith tradition represented in the school. Everyone is included, no one is left out.

Funny - inclusiveness of all, even those of a different faith, is the very basis of the teachings of Jesus. He sat down to eat with people no matter who they were, and no matter what faith they were. He never asked people if they were Jewish or not, he never tried to convert them or get them to attend synagogue with him. He recognised that *faith* is something more than adherence to a label, of any kind. He spent a lot of time irritating the religious leaders by pointing out the fallacies in their interpretations of religious law. If we strip away cultural norms which are overlaid in all our religious interpretations, that same inclusiveness is found in Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam  - to name a few.

My friend may not agree with me, of course. That's the beauty of friendships - we will agree to disagree......

What do you think?