Lunch is over and some classes already are at recess when a group of schoolchildren at McSwain Elementary stands up, puts on coats, walks 200 feet across the playground and files into Memorial Baptist Church.
Over the next half-hour, the Bible shapes the lesson plan. The children pray, sing and play games with a Christian theme. In one class, 12 third-graders hear a story and pray to Jesus, repenting for acting "growly." In another, third-graders eagerly offer 24 names for Jesus. They praise the Lord in song: "You're my savior, you're my messiah." They bow their heads and repeat the Lord's Prayer.
Then they don their coats again, leave the church and trek back to rejoin the few classmates whose parents declined to enroll their children in the weekday religious classes.
The scene is repeated with different groups of children four times a day, each Monday and Wednesday, at McSwain and three other public elementary schools in Staunton.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29266-2005Jan22.htmlI have a good friend who grew up in Staunton, and spent her school years having these "good Christians," including her teachers, telling her on a regular basis that she was going to burn in hell because she went to a UU church. Having these programs in place creates an atmosphere where such people can bully and torture others without fear of punishment because their majority view is validated and they know no one will try to cross them.
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