European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 29, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday november 29, 1994. Commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 Why should t we have amendment Pray Tell f ,. If off Williamf. Buckley Newt Gingrich said let s do a constitutional amendment on school prayer by july 4. The gunfire began to sound. A Little slow at first like the nazis after taking Warsaw getting ready slowly for their Blitzkrieg. First sen. Bob Dole came in with the statement that such an amendment would take a Little doing which is How sheriff Gary Cooper would have reacted to the suggestion that he eliminate horse thieving.  Then the thunderer came Acle types plus those politicians who have been swayed Over the years by the superstition that the first amendment to the Constitution denying establishment of Reli Gion denies also the right of Public schools to make Way for common prayer. Let s attend first Dole is understood to be saying to important things such As crime and welfare. This is another Way of saying let s leave the prayer business for a Vairry Day. Which Means let s forget it be cause there is never a Rainy Day in Congress. There was never a clearer reminder of the Maxim that we do not live by bread alone if the Reader will forgive this attempt to establish religion by quoting from the Bible. Dole and the congressional establish ment should be reminded of one or two truisms the first of these is that we live in a self governing Republic. All those paeans we hear every five minutes to democracy Are supposed to describe those Socie ties in which the rules by which we Are governed Are those rules we choose to be governed by. Poll after poll informs us that somewhere Between 75 percent and 80 percent of the american people would like to see com Mon prayer in their schools. Now the democratic imperative is correctly interrupted by a single qualification namely the rights of the minority. The consolidation of modern constitutional principle is that with presumably the exception of the right of the majority to tax As much of the minority s property As it chooses to do you have to Stoat those no trespassing junctions enumerated by the Bill of rights. That Means such things As you can t compel someone to be a witness in a criminal Case against himself or deprive him of life Liberty or prop erty without due process of Law. The suggestion that common prayer in the schools is a violation of the first amendment rests entirely on the Assumption that such procedures Are Ven Tures in the establishment of a state religion. In 1962, ministers priests and rabbis in new York City agreed on the formulation of a school prayer to wit almighty god we acknowledge our dependence upon thee arts we beg thy blessings upon us our parents our teachers and our  if that is an unconstitutional venture in the establish  -., � � we a except for this 60p4sss meet of religion then a note by an 18-Ycar-c l to his teacher ending with love Al is a contractually enforceable offer of marriage. Everybody knows that such common prayer As pro scribed in Engel is. Vitale 1962 is As far removed from establishment Fianis As a Valentine is from a marriage contract. However sectarian ideologists were on the March and they have paralysed the thinking of a substantial number of americans including a few dozen senators who would otherwise pass Constitution Al intelligence tests. The other argument has to do with the imposition on the minority of a prayer constructed by the majority. The implicit problem Here is that it violate the conscience of the 14-year-old to pronounce senti ments with which he is uncomfortable. That argument is brewed in the fever swamps of multiculturalism. In the first place the student in the Public school does hot live by such preciousness As occupies the time of  in etymology. In the second place it is preposterous to assume that policy in schools should be circumscribed by conceivable objections from potential minorities. As a practical matter the jewish Christian problem is As easily solved As by avoiding any mention of Jesus. Short of that the Best lesson to teach the idiosyncratic minority is that the majority has certain rights and even As Public school 81 has the right to assemble cheering team to exult Over the school s basketball team the majority should have the right to say some thing pleasant to god when school assembles in the morning. Sen. Jesse Helms has been correctly admonished in the last few Days for publicly questioning the suitability of the president who was elected by the american peo ple to serve As commander in chief to discharge that of fice. If the minority has certain rights so does the minority when it grows into majority. Contrary arguments Are spinach and the hell with them. C Universal pm Syndicate kids need involved dads and so does society the formal interview is wind ing Down and Henry Cisneros gives in to a moment s Candor. One of the most important things we have to do says the Secretary of housing and Urban development is to find ways to re engage fathers in the lives of their  it s not what i had expected at the end of a conversation that focused on the effect of a resurgent Republican party on the Domestic problems confronting the Clinton administration. But Cisneros is saying he doubts that most of the prob lems Hud has to Deal with can be solved if we Don t find a Way to reconstitute families and communities. When i go to the housing projects in the South Side of Chicago he says what i see is a building that if it has 100 units in it 95 Are headed by single women. They just can t keep up with their sons. It s just not in the  he recognizes the Tri Kiness of what he s saying and he quickly makes his obeisance to the women whose sons achieve great Success and give All credit to their Strong often single mothers. There s Beauty and wonder in  he says but there Are also the boys whose mothers try As they might cannot overcome the influence of the Street of the male group of the  he s talking about the lure of drugs William Raspberry and Gold chains and bows of course but about something else besides. I believe that the connection Between Man and child son or daughter is very very important. I speak Here from sad personal experience. I As you know had some very difficult Deci Sions to make about my own personal life. My marriage was t doing Well was t holding to Gether and there seemed to be great Rea son to perhaps break it apart. And i finally concluded that the most important thing in my life was the obligation to my children. I say this not in a sense of Crow ing about it but because i know every time i think about what might have been or what other decisions i might have made i can t get around the question of which decision would allow me to spend the most time with my son. I can t Tell you How important that is to me and i know it s important to him too. I be shared this conversation with the presi Dent this Faith in the importance of that connection Between fathers and their Chil Dren and because i believe it so strongly i m not reluctant to ask other fathers who May have made a different decision in their lives to figure out a Way to spend time with their children. It s just not Good enough to say at the end of life now is the time to get close to my adult children and Hope to straighten out the problems in their lives it cannot be done that  what Cisneros is talking about is not just the warm fuzzy feelings Gener ated in Norman Rockwell an father child relationships. He is talking perhaps More urgently about the virtually insurmountable difficulty of raising straight and confident children especially boys in the fatherless communities that too Many projects and inner City neighbor hoods Nave become. But supposing he s right what can Secretary of Hud Hope to do about it Well obviously government cannot be in the position of urging couples to stay together who Don t belong together or want to be together. But there Are some things we can do. I believe and i be said this to the president if we re going to offer Job training services for men then one of the things we have to include is a requirement that on saturdays they have to spend time with their children. You have said we underestimate the de sire of Young men to be involved with their children. Well we also underestimate the desire of Young people to have time with adult males whether they Are their fathers or not. Jim Banks of the Anacostia Congress Heights partnership in washing ton . Tells me the Story of setting up a Little league program in Anacostia. People said the kids would t come. Well they show up in droves two hours before the scheduled practices and hang around after practice. Why they want to be around adult men. They crave the adult affirmation. That s important because we re not going to be Able to reach fathers in every  it s perfectly Clear when someone else Points it out children need their fathers too not merely As a source of income for their children but Ilso As an important element in the children s development. Father absent children Are the most Likely of All americans to live in poverty and they arc also the most Likely to get into trouble not Only because they Are poor but also because they have trouble internalizing rules of civil behaviour. Cisneros has it right we have to re engage fathers and other adult men in the lives of our children. That s no Knock on women Only an acknowledgement of the truth that we need each other. C washing Tori Post