Our Voice
As journalists, our mission depends highly upon the laws of our nation. While we, first and foremost, rely on the First Amendment’s free speech rights, it goes without saying that we follow – and expect others to follow – the rest of the laws laid out by our nation’s former and current leaders, including the separation of church and state.
This idea that our country should not be governed under certain religious beliefs is what makes our nation able to cultivate such a rich culture among its people, and prosper thoughts of what may or may not be in store for us after death.
At a liberal arts college, we are one of the leading “cultivators.”
Given this, the opening of a state Board of Regents meeting Nov. 17 came as a shock. It included a prayer.
The prayer did not include wording that would deem it Christian, Jewish, Muslim or any other religion, but nonetheless it was a prayer. The beliefs of agnostics, pagans, atheists and others were pushed to the wayside with this “all-encompassing” speech.
As a liberal arts college, we respect and encourage organizations such as Wesley, Hillel, Campus Catholics, Unorganized and all other groups formed to discuss religion or lack thereof. The problem: this prayer doesn’t respect the “lack thereof.”
The Board of Regents makes decisions regarding 35 schools, including four research universities, two regional universities, 13 state universities, seven state colleges and nine two-year colleges in Georgia. It’s our hope that it will consider those of all faiths before indulging in a pre-meeting talk with God that could make some of the students affected by their decisions uncomfortable.
Understandably, this prayer is part of tradition that has been included in the start of meetings for decades, but it’s time to break this tradition.
We encourage all the silent prayers Board Members wish to have, but save the spoken prayers for outside of public meetings.
Please send responses to
ColonnadeLetters@gcsu.edu.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Dec 4 2009. Filed under Our Voice.
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