God’s Absence in American Public Schools

I pen this piece to address folklore that the church adopted long ago and planted in parishioners after tilling their minds to make them receptive to it . This seed of confusion grew, having been watered whenever the provincial gathered for fellowship. With knees deeply bent, this falsehood crouched behind the Bible to mask its identity. The ruse to which the title alludes is that God was “in” America’s public school system, and many who called themselves Christian believed as much. They cited displays of the Ten Commandments and school-sanctioned prayer as evidence of God’s presence, despite pervasive bigotry in the school system, and they labeled legislation and court rulings opposing such displays as profane. However, the idea that God was present in a segregated school system contradicts God’s word and, therefore, is a dubious mythology. God’s presence would signify His order and assent, yet hate opposes God’s commandment to love thy neighbor. God was never present in the public schools, and as such, judicial rulings did nothing to expel the LORD.

To understand this, it is fitting to begin with the Word of God, through whom all mankind has great grace. For, from the beginning, the Word set the moral standard for nations and people innumerable, and in the end, the Word will endure when other religions have collapsed under the weight of truth.

The Bible says God gave the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel, His chosen people. He summoned Moses to Mount Sinai and instructed him saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” (Exodus 19:4-6 NKJV)

Thus, the Lord initiated covenant with Israel, and they responded with unanimous accord, agreeing to reverence the Lord: “So Moses came and called for the elders of the people and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” So, Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you and believe you forever.’” (Exodus 19:7-9 NKJV) This was a pact etched in stone, the rules by which God’s people were to live:

1. Thou shall not have any strange gods before Me.

2. Thou shall not make a graven image of things in heaven or on earth.

3. Thou shall not take the name of the LORD in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy.

5. Honor thy father and thy mother that your days may be long upon the land.

6. Thou shall not kill.

7. Thou shall not commit adultery.

8. Thou shall not steal.

9. Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

10. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s possessions. (Exodus 20:1-17 NKJV)

The Ten Commandments are explicit, simple directives, which the LORD sums up in Matthew 7:12 saying, “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” (NKJV) Amen.

The Bible also speaks about prayer, revealing aspects of God’s nature in its passages. What is true is that He hears the humble and repentant petitioner but rejects those who are amiss. As it is written, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV)

In Isaiah He says, “And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” (Isaiah 1:15-17 KJV)

And again, “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace. Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. (Isaiah 59:1-15 KJV)

These verses reveal what the Lord requires of those who pray to Him. Depart from iniquity, lying, oppression, and perverseness. Seek justice and judgement. Such is the essence of effectual prayer, that when fervent, avails much.

The next post in this series explores the irony of the fight to keep religious symbols in schools and why many self-proclaimed Christians did not see the error in their ways.