Masthead, Editorial
The views of the Minnesota Legionnaire

The Minnesota Legionnaire

First published in 1920 as the Hennepin County Legionnaire, the Minnesota Legionnaire is now in its 91st year of publication.  It is published monthly by The American Legion, Department of Minnesota, 20 West Twelfth Street, St. Paul, MN 55155-2069.   The Legionnaire is a member of the Minnesota Newspaper Association and the National American Legion Press Association.

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God in the schools

There is a war going on in America between those who follow the traditions and heritage of our country and those who would change those traditions.
Bloomington, Minnesota, became a battleground in that war this past year. An American Legion post wanted to say a prayer for our armed forces during a Veterans Day ceremony it does annually for Bloomington's schools. The school district forbade them from saying the prayer, citing the separation of church and state. Bloomington Post 550 chose not to accept this censorship and walked away from the long-standing and positive relationship.
When it comes down to it, if you have the courage, you simply must make a stand. The post made a tough decision.
We think the school district is dead wrong in their stance on this large issue. We think that political groups in our nation have buffaloed the schools into believing that even the mention of the word God is putting the schools in a difficult legal position. That's preposterous, and its application in this case is misguided.
Our Constitution does demand that government shall not establish any religion. The law has been refined to state that no governmental unit, including schools, may proselytize or promote a certain religion. No one has a problem with that.
But does anybody really think that the color guard from Post 550 was out there at the flagpole seeking recruits for a particular religion?
No, these volunteers were simply showing these young people how the Legion honors our veterans and those who are still serving. It was part of the Legion's program, not the school's program.
In fact, the school district in its own policy allows religious expression as long as it is educational. The Bloomington School Board has voted to allow the Pledge of Allegiance, including the words "under God," to be said in the district's classrooms.
Let's look at an example. Suppose a group of Ojibway or Dakota veterans was presenting a program at a school. As part of their program, they shared their tradition of drums and dance and singing. Would a school official interrupt this spiritual exercise and say, "No way can we have religion on school property"? We doubt it. The school officials would correctly determine that this was traditional and educational, fully allowed within their own policies.
So why is it different that an organization, whose motto is "For God and Country," would say a prayer during a veterans ceremony? Is that promoting a religion? No way.
The school district could not be more wrong in this instance, but we can understand how things have come to be in America. Trepidation has replaced bold action. Over-reaction has replaced clear-headed thinking. Even the school's own well-prepared policy is ignored for sake of catering to a political group.
It's a sad situation that it has come to this. A relationship between the post and the schools that goes back four decades has been broken. The whole community is the loser.
We would like to see the schools and the post work this out, so that next year the students in the district will once again have the opportunity to learn about patriotism, love of country, the role of veterans in our history, and the need to support our troops at war.