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Summarized by Janus Wilkinson
Texas Town Sued by Mormon Family Sees Signs of Stigma
Texas Town Sued by Mormon Family Sees Signs of Stigma
SANTA FE, TEXAS -- Two recent articles discuss the struggles of a
small Texas town in the wake of the US Supreme Court's decision on
public prayer before high school football games. The town of Santa Fe
made history in June when the US Supreme Court rejected school
officials' bid to protect student-led prayer before football games.
The ruling was the culmination of five years of local activism, most
of it supporting the school district.
The suit, which was brought by two local Christian families, one
Catholic and one Mormon, has brought unwelcome publicity to the town.
Residents of the town claim theirs is a town whose majority is
Baptist, devout and not ashamed of old-fashioned values. However,
others living in neighboring towns say the residents of Santa Fe are
intolerant of those with differing religious beliefs. They say there
is a racial and religious intolerance that has gone on for decades.
The one Jewish student in Santa Fe has been threatened with being
hanged and charges have been brought against students involved.
In an effort to get around the Supreme Court's ruling, spectators at
the football games rise from their seats and recite the Lord's
Prayer. The court ruled that students did not have the right to use
the school's public address system to lead the crowd in prayer, so at
the urging of talk show hosts and local ministers, the students have
been "spontaneously'' praying out loud in the stands.
Some critics see this as a showy gesture aimed at defying the court
ruling, not enhancing spirituality.
One such detractor is R. Scott Colglazier, the senior minister at
Fort Worth's University Christian Church and author of several books
on spirituality. "The point of religion is to dig the wells of the
soul deeper. This kind of thing diminishes what real prayer is
about,'' R. Scott Colglazier said by phone from Texas.
Colglazier drew criticism recently for a local column he wrote
supporting the court's ruling. Saying prayers and being prayerful are
not the same thing, he wrote, prayerfulness is ``a time when genuine
feeling for God is evoked and encountered . . . a time (for)
contemplation, mindfulness, even silence. . . . It is more about the
listening heart than it is the speaking mouth.''
Source:
A Texas town sees the signs of stigma
Boston Globe pgA3 (Los Angeles Times) 6Sep00 N1
By Claudia Kolker Los Angeles Times, 9/6/2000
Hallelujahs and Halfbacks
San Francisco Chronicle 5Sep00 N1
By Joan Ryan
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