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Christians crowd meeting that misses point entirelyBy JEFF WEBB © St. Petersburg Times, published March 1, 2001 About 20 very concerned and very brave students bared their souls about some very private matters Tuesday night. One after another, the young people approached the microphone in the Forest Ridge Elementary School cafeteria and addressed the Citrus County School Board, which had convened a workshop meeting. The students, most of them in high school but with a few middle schoolers mixed in, pleaded with the board to not forbid their club, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, from meeting at school. They also begged the board to not prevent them from praying to Jesus Christ, all the while praising their spiritual savior and postulating about what is wrong with the world. The adults who were running the School Board meeting, in particular Chairwoman Patience Nave, should have shown as much courage, compassion and leadership as those young people. She should have reminded everyone that no one had proposed banning the FCA or ending the practice of opening School Board meetings with a prayer. By not making that clear from the outset, Nave, and to a lesser degree the other board members, who allowed the issue to be blown out of proportion, exploited the emotions of students. For that, they and any other adults who may have needlessly upset or misinformed the youngsters should be ashamed. After the students had spoken, and before adults in the capacity crowd were given their opportunity to comment, board member Sandra "Sam" Himmel finally stepped in and assured everyone that the issue under discussion was about students' equal access to such clubs, not about persecuting Christians or any other religious sect. But not even that brief explanation was sufficient to frame the argument properly, or to deter members of the hyped-up, 500-plus audience from finishing what they had started out to do Tuesday night. They went there to take a stand about their religion. They went there to testify in public about their love of God and Jesus Christ. They went there to express the opinion that the majority still rules in Citrus County, and that religion and government go hand in hand. Oh, there were a few people who stood in disagreement. A Jewish person here, a progressive Christian there, an agnostic in the corner and a worshiper of Wicca in the front row. But those folks were not only outnumbered, they were out of step. They made the mistake of actually focusing on the real issues: the separation of church and state, and expecting government to be inclusive of all the people it is obligated to represent. This much is certain: There is no way those dissenters could have felt they were treated equally Tuesday night. What must it be like for a Jew or Muslim or Buddhist to hear over and over again that they have placed their faith in the wrong entity? How devastating is it to hear repeatedly that the way they were taught to worship at the synagogue, the mosque or the temple was fraudulent? How hopeless it must feel to know that your strongest argument will never be truly heard simply because you lack the strength in numbers enjoyed by your neighbors. And that isolation must be even worse when a person you've elected to govern your school district is basking in the glow of that insistent majority. After the last student spoke Tuesday night, Chairwoman Nave stood and declared that their conduct made her "so proud." I'm sure she was proud. Anyone, regardless of where they stood on the issue, should appreciate the youngsters' standing up for what they believe. The raw emotion that poured out of many of them was truly inspirational. But much of it was seeded in fear and pain, feelings that could have been eased by responsible adults if they had tried. Existing law and the School Board's policy on these issues already accommodates everyone -- if everyone believes in tolerance and inclusion. That should have been made clear right up front. Because it was not, Tuesday's meeting accomplished very little, other than to provide a forum for misinformation and intolerance.
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