by
John Stevenson
Student
suspended for silent prayer
San
Francisco---A San Francisco high school student has been suspended from school
for silently praying in class. Sara Devoto,
15, a sophomore at O’Hair High School, was discovered praying while taking a
test in her algebra class.
Sara’s
teacher, Sofia Pagan, discovered the violation of school district policy
regarding separation of church and state.
Asked how she realized that Sara was praying, Pagan said “Her lips were
moving. Plus this wasn’t the first time,
and she admitted it. I have never known Sara
to lie.”
When
asked whether Sara’s silent prayer caused a disturbance in the class, Pagan
replied “No, but that’s not the point.
It’s against school policy and against the U.S. Constitution. I have to report all such violations to the
principal’s office.”
O’Hair
principal Matthias Teufel said the school is diligently carrying out district
policy and upholding the First Amendment’s wall of separation between church
and state. Teufel said his
administration has made encouraging progress in suppressing unconstitutional prayer
at O’Hair. “We’ve put a stop to pre-game
prayer by the school’s athletic teams and also that kneeling in the end zone
thing---to ‘thank God’ after a touchdown.
We’ve also stopped the informal student prayer groups which had been meeting
before classes almost daily on school property.”
Teufel
said the school staff is on the lookout for students praying silently. “We look for signs such as their lips moving
or their hands clasped. If we confront
them, these Christian kids normally don’t lie to us, so we catch them pretty
easily.”
Teufel
admitted that silent prayer without any overt sign is the most difficult to
stop. He said “Mental prayer without any
outward sign is a tough thing to detect, but we’re working on that.”
When
asked how this effort differs from an Orwellian ‘thought police,’ Teufel said “Well, the First Amendment
guarantees freedom of speech, the press, and assembly---but it doesn’t say
anything about freedom of thought. And
it clearly establishes the wall between church and state. So I think we’re on firm ground, here.”
Sara’s
parents, Joe and Maria Devoto, are trying to help Sara with her lessons while
she serves her three-day suspension. But
they may try to move her to a school where prayer is allowed. Joe said “Sara feels a connection with the
Lord, and we don’t want to ask her to stop praying. We don’t want her to lose that
connection.” And he added “Perhaps a
parochial school would be better for Sara.”
The
News will continue to follow this story and to report on O’Hair’s ongoing fight
to eliminate all religious activity in school and to safeguard the constitutionally
mandated separation of church and state.
NB: Early feedback indicates some readers have taken this as a true incident, which it is not. It is satire. JS
NB: Early feedback indicates some readers have taken this as a true incident, which it is not. It is satire. JS
