A Christian Resource

South Dakota’s Republican Gov. Kristi Noem has introduced a bill that would allow students in public schools to pray every morning at school if they so choose despite pushback from secular groups to similar bills in other states.

On Monday, Noem released the text of legislation that would “require a moment of silence in schools to begin the school day.”

In a statement, Noem shared her belief that “every student deserves the opportunity to begin their day with a calm, silent moment.”

“I hope students will take this opportunity to say a quick prayer or reflect on their upcoming day. However they choose to take advantage of this time, it will be beneficial to students and teachers alike,” she added.

The bill calls for all public school districts in the state to “provide students and teachers the opportunity each morning that school is in session to have a moment of silence lasting up to one minute.”

Potential uses for this moment of silence include “voluntary prayer, reflection, meditation or other quiet, respectful activity.”

The legislation would mandate that “no school employee may dictate the action to be taken by students or teachers during the moment of silence” and that “no student may interfere with another student’s engagement in the moment of silence.” It also clarifies that the language in the bill shouldn’t “be construed to permit schools to conduct the moment of silence as a religious exercise.”

The legislation contends that a moment of silence at the beginning of the school day is necessary to provide students and teachers with a “reprieve from the frenzy of daily life and to set a tone of decorum that will be conducive to learning.”

South Dakota is one of several states where elected officials are pushing for a moment of silence in schools. 

An Ohio Senate bill introduced in October would establish a moment of silence in schools.

In June, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law that would give students a daily opportunity to “reflect and be able to pray as they see fit.”

Separation of church and state advocacy groups see the “moment of silence” measures as causes for concern.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which advocates for a strict separation of church and state, wrote a letter to the Ohio Senate criticizing Senate Bill 248 as an “unconstitutional promotion of religion.”

The Wisconsin-based advocacy group expressed particular opposition to the language of the bill calling on each public school district to “provide for a moment of silence each school day for prayer, reflection, or meditation upon a moral, philosophical, or patriotic theme.” 

FFRF Staff Attorney Ryan Jayne maintained that moment of silence bills that contain an explicit reference to prayer — such as the bills in Ohio, Florida and South Dakota — run afoul of U.S. Supreme Court precedent in the 1985 Wallace v. Jaffree decision. The court struck down an Alabama law setting aside time for “meditation or voluntary prayer” during the school day.

“The addition of ‘or voluntary prayer’ indicates that the State intended to characterize prayer as a favored practice,” the decision stated.

The Supreme Court concluded that “such an endorsement is not consistent with the established principle that the government must pursue a course of complete neutrality toward religion.” Jayne argued that the Ohio bill’s mention of prayer before other potential uses for the moment of silence makes “the endorsement even more clear.”

“There can be no serious doubt that the primary intent of this bill is to inject religion into the public school day, which is an improper legislative purpose,” he wrote. “Mandatory moment of silence bills are a trend across the country and invariably they are described in terms of promoting religion.” 

DeSantis described the Florida moment-of-silence bill as an initiative allowing students to “pray as they see fit” and one that counters attempts to “push God out of every institution.” The headline included with the statement from Noem’s office about the South Dakota bill characterizes the legislation as an effort to “restore protections for prayer in the classroom.”

I grew up in a Christian home but had no relationship with Christ; youthful exuberance took me too far to the side of the devil. I ventured into all manner of things. I founded a cult called Barracks Green Barrett (BGB) when I was in the university. I went into so many religions in search of truth, and at a certain point, I even became an atheist and a Marxist.

One day I came across an article in Time magazine with the caption, “Is God Dead?” I was so excited about the argument that favored the “God is dead” opinion and pulled an excerpt that says, “how can an omnipotent God exist in a world with so much misery and injustice? — continues to press religious thinkers to grapple with how to sustain faith while living a mortal life.”  I photocopied this along with other excerpts and produce a tract that I handed out to Christians to let them know that their God had grown old and died of senility.

One night, I had a dream that changed my life. In that dream a demon wanted to kill me.  I addressed these powers by saying, “By the authority given to me by my Lord Jesus, I command all of you to surrender.”  To my greatest surprise, the demons that came to attack me surrendered and fled.

When I woke up, I realized my follies. Scripture says that only a fool says that “there is no God” (Psalm 14:1). My eyes of understanding were enlightened and I knew that I seriously needed forgiveness for all the blasphemy and atrocities that I had committed against God. I wept bitterly asking Jesus to have mercy on my soul.

I soberly reflected on the dream. It was so real, and I wondered how I could used the name of Christ whom I did not believe in. It was then that I realized that I had a high calling and must give all for the sake of the Gospel.

The following morning, I went to my next-door neighbor, whom I had constantly harassed for playing Christian sermons and music.  I had threatened to break his DVD player if I heard any sound of Christian sermon or music come out of his room. I knelt before him and apologized for my entire wicked act towards him, and he raised his hand and praised God and said to me, “I have been praying for you.”

The following day I was invited to a program in Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministry Abuja regional headquarters, and there I gave my life to Christ. From that day forward my life has never remained the same. No one preached to me before I gave my life to Christ because I never allowed anyone to talk to me about Him. I harassed, beat and threatened anyone who dared tell me about Jesus. But as soon as Christ revealed Himself to me, I immediately enrolled in Bible college.

I fashioned my ministry after the Apostle Paul. By the power of the Holy Spirit I have taken the Gospel to 15 communities where no one had preached Christ before and where not a single person had heard about Jesus. I have escaped assassins many times; I have been arrested for mentioning Christ where it is forbidden; I have been stranded, famished and dehydrated in the bush for days for the sake of the Gospel. I know no other Gospel than Jesus and Him crucified. My love for the Cross of Christ helped me embrace my suffering, and in it lies my Christian strength.

There are so many who are like Saul today and do not look anything like Paul. But our prayers can catalyze their spiritual metamorphosis that will eventually make them to become like Paul tomorrow. Let us keep on praying for those who have rejected the Gospel with the hope that one day Jesus will reveal Himself to them. Those who hate God today can be lovers of God tomorrow, for where sin abounds, grace abounds much more (Romans 5:20). I am convinced that there shall come days when all those who are persecuting the church shall come to realize that Jesus is Lord.

Some of them will become missionaries of the Gospel, but they need the intercession and prayers of the saints. If my neighbor had not prayed for me, I would have perished in my sins and ignorance.

Take a look around your environment and pick one sinner and make a vow that you will never rest in your prayers until he or she bows to the saving power of Christ. Let us not despise them, because some of us were worse than them before Christ found us.

Archaeologists say a second synagogue dating back to the Second Temple period has been discovered in what is believed to have been the birthplace of Mary Magdalene of the Bible and is “changing our understanding of Jewish life in this period.”

While excavating the Galilean town of Magdala, known today as Migdal, archaeologists say they found the remnants of a second synagogue dating back to the Second Temple period — which in history was a time that is believed to have lasted between 515 or 516 B.C. up until 70 A.D. 

“This is the second synagogue from the Roman period that has been uncovered in the village — and the first case of the existence of two synagogues in any locality from the Second Temple period, a period when the Temple in Jerusalem was still standing,” the Israel Antiquities Authority shared on Facebook.

Prof. Adi Erlich,  who heads the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, and Dina Avshalom-Gorni, who directs the excavation of the site on behalf of the University of Haifa, believe the discovery “sheds light on the social and religious life of the Jews in the Galilee during this period.” They contend that the finding “indicates the need for a special building for studying and reading the Torah and social gatherings.” 

The first synagogue in Migdal was uncovered in 2009 through an excavation that found ritual baths, streets, a marketplace and industrial facilities in the ancient village.

The second synagogue was first discovered by probes conducted by Barak Tzin of the Israel Antiquities Authority and lies less than 200 meters away from the first synagogue. The IAA statement states that the discovery of the second synagogue is “changing our understanding of Jewish life in this period,” IAA stated. 

“We can imagine Mary Magdalene and her family coming to the synagogue here, along with other residents of Migdal, to participate in religious and communal events,” excavation co-director Avshalom-Gorni told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. 

The discovery was made amid a plan to build new infrastructure in the town of Migdal. But while the areas were being excavated — a typical practice in advance of construction —  the second synagogue was discovered by the IAA, Y.G. Contractual and the University of Haifa.  

Avshalom-Gorni told the newspaper that the first synagogue had a decorative mosaic floor and the second one had a compacted, plastered and earthen floor. 

The second synagogue is said to be smaller and not as ornate as the first. 

The first synagogue was in an industrial area, while the second was located in a residential street, which suggests they were built “within the social fabric of the settlement,” Avshalom-Gorni told The Times of Israel.

The Times of Israel reports that the second synagogue consisted of the main hall and two side rooms. A stone bench was also recovered. Archeologists found bases for two of the building’s six pillars that held up the roof. The walls of the synagogue were colorfully decorated and covered in plaster. Archeologists believe that a room at the south end of the main hall with a shelf may have stored scrolls.

The great Medieval cathedrals of Europe were not only beautiful edifices but, more importantly, vast halls of learning through artistic narrative.

Rather than simply reading or merely hearing the message of the cathedrals, one could take them in classic art forms that still speak and show the Gospel story centuries later.

Chartres Cathedral, for example, was called “The Bible in Stone” because of the biblical messages revealed in sculpture, painting, and rock.

To change the forms and distort the visuals would be the equivalent of rebuilding Paris in a 1940s minimalist style had the Nazi Commander obeyed Hitler’s reputed orders to burn the city to the ground.

Paris was not burned in 1945, but one of its most famous landmarks burned in 2019. Proposals have been made that, according to the London Daily Mail, will turn the 7th-century Cathedral into a “woke theme Park.” New chapels, for example, will include one dedicated to the “environment.”

Critics of the revamping of the Notre Dame interior fear the re-designers will “distort” the historic edifice.^[1] One hundred intellectuals, art critics, artists, and writers signed a statement criticizing the proposed renovation, claiming that it “completely distorts the decor and the liturgical space.”

Even French President Emmanuel Macron got into the act. He wanted to replace the flame-destroyed spire with “a contemporary architectural gesture.” One trembles to imagine what that might look like. Thankfully there was many objections from the public that Macron’s idea was scrapped.

Paris architect Maurice Culot says, according to the London Telegraph, that “it’s as if Disney were entering Notre Dame… What they are proposing to do to Notre Dame would never be done to Westminster Abbey or Saint Peter’s in Rome. It’s a kind of theme Park and very childish and trivial given the grandeur of the place.”

The power of the cathedral narrative was not trivial. It came home to me on an unforgettable afternoon in 1997. My wife and I were in England visiting with family. On a side trip to York, we walked through York Minster Abbey, a mighty Cathedral whose towers can be seen from afar.

However, on that day, it was the up-close that drew the attention of my seven-year-old granddaughter. She and I held hands and strolled slowly through the fascinating building, looking at inscriptions and art bedecking the ancient walls.

Suddenly the little girl pulled on my hand as she looked on a particular display — a crucifix.

“Paw-Paw, who’s that man on the cross?” she asked as she studied a graphic artwork mounted on the wall.

I led her to a nearby row of chairs. We sat under the vaulted roof and talked about the narrative of the cross. When we were through my granddaughter knew Who the Man on the cross was and why He was there on that cross.

It’s easy to understand the concerns of iconoclastic reformers who feared that fascination and focus on religious art could easily deteriorate into idolatry. But sometimes the reformers went too far, stripping the instructing and inspiring art from the churches that needed to be learning centers, a mission in which the art played a major role.

True, the narrative-through-depiction was important in the illiterate societies of the Middle Age, but there is much biblical illiteracy in our “advanced” age — the illiteracy of human souls that need to see deep truths in iconic form.

In the Reformation, Protestants might say that Catholics held on to too much, but Catholics might believe that Protestants lost too much. Iconoclastic reformers jettisoned the great art that carried such wonderful stories in stone and paint.

The outcomes in our time mean a near-idolatrous relationship with statues and pictures for some Catholics and a somewhat contemptuous view by radical iconoclasts of many non-Catholic denominations.

What has emerged in some contemporary churches is what could be called the “grunge church”: stubbled-faces, sloppy tattered jeans and shirts, and baseball hats worn during praise segments.

The aim to identify with modern folk is admirable. But this is often based on a wrong assumption that all moderns relate to grunge. Many find it demeaning of them and the message conveyed from the platform.

This style also constitutes a narrative, but not one that inspires a focus on God, High and Lifted Up, the Transcendent majesty of God.

Remember Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 4: Let all be done with excellence.

The “grunge church” distorts worship, replaces beauty with the boorish, and mars the sublime loveliness of the Gospel in the attempt to reach the spiritually illiterate.

May church buildings of all kinds — be they great cathedrals, stark urban-styled shells, or steepled rural houses of worship, understand and preserve the narrative described in their existence as physical structures.

May they display a Gospel that will not yield to the trends of a given era.

May they all be structures that show forth the beauty of the Lord in their worship and proclamation, and even in their physical appearance.

May they be a beautiful Gospel narrative in their very construction.

And, above all, may it be so clear that a little child is prompted to ask: “Who is that man on the cross?”

[1]artnet AG (via Public) / French Heritage Experts Have Approved Controversial Notre-Dame Plans That Critics Say Will ‘Distort’ the Famed Cathedral (publicnow.com)