Christian students gather in prayer across LV Valley

Jason Bell-Bechtol stood at his middle school's flagpole and bowed his head.

Alone.

"People walked by me and said, 'What is he doing?' " Bell-Bechtol, 12, recalled about last year's See You At The Pole international student prayer day. "I was just praying."

This morning Bell-Bechtol was expecting to have company at the flagpole. Hundreds of Christian students gathered today before classes at schools around the Las Vegas Valley to pray -- for each other, for their teachers, and for a safe school environment.

Last year more than 3 million students worldwide participated in the prayer day, which was started in Texas in 1990, and more were expected today.

"It shows my friends and people who know who I am and what I stand for," said Danielle Campbell, 17, a senior at Green Valley High School. "And it lets us meet other people that have the same ideas and philosophies."

Schoolyard spiritual expression among teenagers is on the rise -- a trend some attribute to the spate of school violence this year, and others attribute to a turn-of-the-century religious fervor.

"Every so often in history we see periods of spiritual renewal, and young people are very often in the lead," said Doug Clark, a See You at the Pole coordinator for the San Diego-based National Network of Youth Ministries. "It's happening right now before our eyes."

Although the mere mention of religion at schools raises red flags for church-state referees, there is a growing sentiment that the religious rights of students have been suppressed in recent years.

Accordingly, the Nevada Legislature passed a bill this spring ensuring students the right to voluntary religious expression at school.

"The pendulum is swinging back from the suppression of our right to express ourselves, to the welcome expression of our religious beliefs," said Rabbi Mel Hecht of Temple Beth Am in Las Vegas. He supports the Christian students' right to pray in a group before school on campus.

"With events like the tragedy at Columbine happening, students need a way to express their emotions, and religion is a legitimate way that deep emotions can be expressed," he said.

Parents of at least two victims of the Columbine High School shooting have said the tragedy was a call for a nationwide student spiritual movement. Students at Columbine have deemed some of the victims martyrs for professing their faith before they died.

"The young people of our nation hold the key," David Scott, father of victim Rachel Scott, told a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee this spring. "There is a spiritual awakening that will not be squelched. We do need a change of heart and a humble acknowledgment that this nation was founded on the principle of simple trust in God."

"Columbine did make a difference, but kids are waking up anyway," said Casey McDorman, a youth pastor at the First Church of Nazarene in Las Vegas. "The kids that are in churches are trying to reach out to the kids who aren't in churches. Kids are becoming more aware...

"These kids want security, and religion offers security to people."

But bringing prayer to the periphery of the school -- to Bible clubs in classrooms after hours; to prayer meetings at flagpoles before school hours -- often serves more than one purpose.

In addition to nourishing a sense of "healing, peace and cooperation" among students, Clark said, it is a way to evangelize in a place where teenagers abound.

"See You At The Pole is an important way to bring other people to Christ," said Grady Thomas, 15, a sophomore at Chaparral. "It's better to do it at school (than at church) because that's where everyone else is. People ask you what you're doing at the pole, and you tell them."

"Even if they don't know what (praying a the pole) is, they see us, and they find out," said Lauren McEwin, 15, a sophomore at Chaparral. "I think people might be scared to share their faith, but this sometimes gets people to talk."

See You At The Pole is one of several nationwide efforts to usher teenagers at public schools toward the Christian faith. Another movement, Challenge 2000, is working to "establish ministries of evangelism and discipleship to every middle, junior high, and high school in America by year-end 2000."

Adopt a school

The program, sponsored by the National Network of Youth Ministries, encourages churches to "adopt a school" in their neighborhood and work with Christian students to reach non-Christian students.

"The goal is to present the gospel to each student on each campus by the end of 2000," said the Rev. Mike Husli, the youth pastor at Trinity Christian Church in Las Vegas.

"They don't have to accept it, but we want to give them an opportunity to hear it."

"Having these events on campuses is important for several reasons," said Clark. "One is that it helps students identify others with similar values. A secular campus can be a very threatening place to a Christian young person's values -- especially if they are isolated and not allowed to talk about God.

"Additionally, they are surrounded by students who are hurting -- and it is important that Christian students have unity so they can reach out and share the answers they have found with those that are hurting."

As long as the discussions of faith are promulgated by students and not administrators, it is within legal limits, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

"These groups are focusing on the schools more because that's the way they can influence more students," said Mel Lipman, ACLU Nevada board member. "But it's not illegal."

The presence of Christian school prayer efforts leaves some wondering whether those of different faiths are ostracized by the extracurricular events.

"I don't think anyone feels left out. I haven't heard any negative comments about it," said Green Valley's Campbell.

"Only people who are insecure in their faith might feel intimidated or alarmed by this," said Hecht. "The denial of the right to verbalize our religious beliefs is an infringement on our right to free expression. I would encourage Jewish youth to do what the Christian groups are doing, and I would expect the Christians to be just as accepting of it."

Whether Columbine or an inexplicable spiritual surge is driving religious expression among teens, the debate about the legality of such religious expression anywhere near schools is as hot as ever.

On the Internet, dozens of sites are devoted to the issues -- school prayer, posting the Ten Commandments in school, whether to teach Creationism or Darwinism -- all drawing thousands of web surfers.

Many in the religious communities suggest that the hard-line division between church and state has been over-emphasized, and that efforts are needed now to educate people about religious rights.

Church vs. state

"In recent years there has been a misinformation campaign that has promulgated the idea of a separation between church and state," said Clark. "Those words -- 'separation of church and state' -- do not appear in the Constitution."

True enough. But since 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled many times in a variety of cases that the First Amendment does prohibit government-endorsed religious expression in school. The First Amendment protects both believers and nonbelievers by mandating government neutrality on religion.

But challenges to the current interpretation of the Constitution continue to surface.

In 1998, U.S. Rep. Ernie Istook Jr., R-Okla., proposed a measure which would have allowed organized prayer as part of a school's schedule. The proposed legislation drew 52 percent of the vote -- 224 congresspeople -- but it failed because as a constitutional amendment it needed two-thirds to pass.

In February of this year the head of the Detroit Board of Education -- a church pastor -- proposed that "prayer rooms" be established at all Detroit public schools -- a proposal most legal critics say would never pass the constitutional test.

In March, New Hampshire legislators sponsored an attempt to have students recite the Lord's Prayer in school; the measure failed.

In April Florida legislators sponsored a bill to impose "a brief opening message" at noncompulsory student activities like football games, and in Texas, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a "Clergy in the Schools" counseling program was unconstitutional.

In Nevada, the 1999 Legislature passed a "Prayer Meetings on Campus" bill, Senate Bill 289, which "ensured the right to religion at schools under certain circumstances," according to sponsor Sen. Maurice Washington, R-Sparks, who also is a Pentecostal pastor. It does not challenge the Constitution, but reiterates students' rights to express their religious beliefs on campus.

"It was my idea to run this piece of legislation. It allows kids to congregate whether it's at the pole or after school for Bible club. There was room in the law to challenge that right before this bill. Now this codifies their rights in state law," he said.

Lipman said the legislation doesn't have much practical effect because students already had that right under federal law. But it does reflect a growing sentiment that there is a need to defend the right to religious expression in schools.

Even the ACLU wants to be known as a protector of religious rights:

"I want to make this point: Sometimes the ACLU is seen as anti-religious," said Lipman. "But that is not the case at all. The ACLU is involved in many cases protecting the rights of students to practice their religion."

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