Walter B. Jones: “as America prepares to observe the National Day of Prayer this Thursday, I wish to share a story I heard on the radio…”

“as America prepares to observe the National Day of Prayer this Thursday, I wish to share a story I heard on the radio recently. It is the story of an exceptional group of young people at Lutheran High School Westland, a Christian school in Westland, Michigan, and their efforts to express their religious beliefs. Last month, the students at the school, acting on their own initiative, built a display of 2,000 small white crosses on the school's lawn to represent roughly 4,000 abortions that are performed daily in America. The students peacefully, yet powerfully, wanted to express their opposition to abortion. Shortly after the crosses went up, however, complaints were filed. The display was called tacky and political in an attack printed in the local newspaper. Fortunately, through community support and true dedication by the students, the cross display remained on the school's lawn for a full week as originally planned. But we have to pause to ask would the display have been criticized at all if the crosses represented deaths from cancer or drunk driving accidents instead of abortion? I fear, especially as we near the National Day of Prayer, that this story is yet another example of the way in which freedom of religious expression is coming under attack in our Nation. America was built upon Judeo-Christian values, but this very important element of our culture is now all too often not only ignored but also frowned upon.”