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This letter by Diane Mills, president of the Central Pennsylvania chapter of ACLU-PA, appeared in The Lock Haven Express on November 21, 2007. Editor, Dr. Wills' banning of an invocation and benediction at the Bucktail Area High School Veteran's Day observance was recently denounced by three letter writers. It is worth noting that Dr. Wills is charged with upholding state and federal laws regarding the practice of religion and prayer in public schools. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says that everyone in this country has the right to practice his or her own religion, or no religion at all, without the interference of the government. Our country's founders knew that people have started wars over religion for thousands of years. That's why they said, "Let's have a country where you can follow your religion, I can follow mine - or none at all. And we won't let the government get involved." So they created the First Amendment, which put up a wall between church and state. Public schools are an extension of our government and must avoid "establishing" religion. The Supreme Court created a three-part test to decide if certain actions promote or "establish" religion. It is the Lemon Test, named for a 1971 court case, Lemon vs. Kurtzman. To pass the Lemon test, a government act or policy must: Not have a religious purpose, not promote or favor any set of religious beliefs or religion generally, not get the government too closely "entangled" with religion. Our constitution was established to protect the minority from the majority. Mr. Blessard is protected by the constitution to practice his religion unimpeded, but the court has the opinion that the school sponsorship of a religious message tells students, or at least not members of the majority religion, "that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community," and tells members of the majority religion, "they are insiders, favored members of the political community." Mr. Blessard is to be commended for his passionate feelings for God and country, but also must respect those "lonely, squeaking wheels" who may not share his beliefs. They are unlikely to feel comfortable speaking up for themselves for fear of ridicule and thus Dr. Wills has stepped in as their protector, as he should.
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