Prayer

Prayer at Tench Tilghman Elementary School was necessary for giving the students, staff and parents strength and hope in their given situation ("Prayer service at city school called improper," March 14). Regardless of any situation one may encounter, along with personal effort, prayer certainly works. Prayer is the key to everyone's success whether you realize it or not. Even if we are not praying ourselves, someone is always lifting our names in prayer. The Biblical passage in Philippians 4:6 states: "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God. " Keep praying Jael Yon, principal of Tench Tilgman Elementary School.

Let me begin by commending all of the excellent principals and teachers who work in Baltimore City Public Schools. I do not want this to come off as the type of educator bashing that we have been seeing lately; however, the article "Prayer service at city school called improper" (March 14) has shown one of the many deeply rooted issues with Baltimore City Public Schools and why they, as a whole, do not perform as well as other systems in the state: poor leadership. The fact that a principal (and many others who just haven't been caught)

I don't know what was more disturbing about the article on a city school holding prayer services before the upcoming Maryland School Assessments, the fact that extra classes are being scheduled on Saturdays in order to get students prepared to pass a test that assesses basic knowledge or that the president of the city principal's union, Jimmy Gittings, knew that the prayer session wasn't constitutional and yet supported it anyway — two years...

Baltimore principals' union president Jimmy Gittings recognizes that school prayer is unconstitutional but defends it anyway ("Prayers at city school before tests criticized," March 14). He blames the constitutional ban for a loss of respect for teachers and administrators over a 50 year period. There are many documented reasons for the problems of city schools, but Mr. Gittings adds a disregard for the rights of all students in order to advance a sectarian agenda. Prayer before tests may be common, but preparation and study should make it unnecessary.

A Baltimore principal's decision to use prayer in preparation for recent statewide tests is drawing criticism as improperly mixing religion and public education. For two years, prayer services have been held at Northeast Baltimore's Tench Tilghman Elementary/Middle School as the Maryland School Assessments, a standardized test for third through eighth grades, neared. Fliers promoted the most recent event, on March 5, as a way to "come together, as one, in prayer and ask God to bless our school to pass the MSA. " Asked about the event, city school officials said they would investigate.

A song in Hebrew rang out from a crowd gathered in a Harford County park at sundown Wednesday. Throughout the joyful salute to Hanukkah, Peter Silton held a burning torch. After the singers intoned, "Amen," he lit the first candle of a towering metal menorah to honor the first night of the Jewish celebration. He needed a stepladder to light the shamas — the candle that is usually lit first then used to light the others — officially beginning the first Hanukkah observance in the county to be held on public property.

As I ponder the state of our state and country I read a poem written years ago by Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819-1881) and I ask that wee extend these words to God in heaven. Make this your prayer each day until God answers. May we look at our founding fathers faith and return to it. God, give us men! A time like this demands Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands; Men whom the lust of office does not kill; Men who possess opinions and a will; Men who have honor; men who will not lie; Men who can stand before a demagogue And damm his treacherous flatteries without winking!

A perfect shiny summer day and a crowd of jittery children in clusters on the corner, about to board a yellow bus, their backpacks in a pile, their mothers giving urgent last-minute reassurances, and I stop and stare at this Large Life Event. Kids from nice homes being abandoned by their mothers in broad daylight and sent off to summer camp and God Knows What. The sweet fragility of the kids, especially the gawky boy with glasses. And the elaborate cool of the college kids in charge.

Pastor Marcus Johnson of New Harvest Ministries stood outside Baltimore's City Hall on Thursday and asked a crowd of about 100 to pray out loud and unrestrained. A federal judge's ruling last month that the law that directs the president to proclaim a National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional did not diminish the enthusiasm of the faithful, who held Bibles, waved American flags and raised their hands to the heavens. "I have been called to pray," Johnson said. "If I am standing in line at the supermarket or the bank, I can pray.

February 11, 2000 was just another day in my second semester of my second year at Cardinal Gibbons High School. I was not a particularly good student, but I usually held my own (i.e., I usually passed my classes with 3-5 points to spare). A lack of a solid work ethic and maturity placed me right in the middle of the dozen or so honors students I sat with in Mr. Jauquet's religion class. Roughly thirty minutes into Mr. J's religion class is when the following announcement was made: "All students, faculty and staff are to remain in their current classroom or area until further notice."