c. 1999 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) Prayers over a public school intercom were a normal part of the day for many students in Pontotoc County, Miss., until a woman named Lisa Herdahl came to town and argued their 50-year-old tradition was unconstitutional.
The battle between Herdahl and the Mississippi community are detailed in a documentary to be aired July 20 on”P.O.V.,”a program on the Public Broadcast System that highlights independent nonfiction films (check local listings).”School Prayer,”produced by filmmakers Slawomir Grunberg and Ben Crane, offers an up-close look at the battles over the separation of church and state that occurred in this rural community.”I strongly believe in prayer, but I believe in prayer in home and in church,”said Herdahl, a Lutheran, as the hourlong film begins.
Jerry Horton, superintendent of the county school system had a different view.”Religion is important to all cultures,”he said.”It’s a common denominator and to act as if this school is a religion-free zone is doing a disservice to the future of these young people.” The film chronicles Herdahl’s attempt to change school policy and the community’s response. The battle ends up in federal court, with Herdahl the eventual winner.
Grunberg, a filmmaker based in Spencer, N.Y., said it took about 15 months to convince Herdahl her case should be told on film. It took an additional six months to convince others in the community the aim of the film was not just to air Herdahl’s side.”Our story is not about making a portrait of one woman,”said Grunberg.”It’s about portraying the conflict and being sensitive to the local tradition and their fight as much as to Lisa’s fight.” The 48-year-old filmmaker said he did not find people who supported Herdahl, who moved to the area from Wisconsin. Most of her supporters were in other parts of Mississippi or from outside the state.”I expected middle ground and I didn’t find it,”he said.”What I found is that within … the local community, there were people who were more or less critical about what she was doing, but I didn’t find anybody who would be, like, in the middle, who would try to find a compromise.” Herdahl and her children became the subject of name calling, threats and suspicions she has been planted in the community by the ACLU, whose Tupelo-based lawyer defended her in court, along with lawyers for People for the American Way.”We disagree completely with Lisa _ completely 100 percent,”said the Rev. Sonny Mills of the local Grace Assembly of God.”My belief is the ACLU is to the Christian belief what the Nazi was to the Jew. I don’t think there’s any question about it.” The documentary includes key events that occur after the court decision _ including the effects on both sides of securing the attorney’s fees and Herdahl’s receipt of a top honor from the ACLU.
Even as she ends up working for her lawyer _ because she has been shunned from other employment _ Herdahl remains confident she did the right thing.”If I had to do this all over again, I would do it again,”she concludes.
Grunberg said Herdahl’s struggle reminded him of his days growing up in Poland, where relations in his family resembled”a little war zone.”He said religious differences contributed to the divorce of his Catholic mother and Jewish father. He was brought up by maternal grandparents, a grandmother who was a Catholic convert to Russian Orthodoxy and grandfather who was a Catholic convert to atheism who returned to Catholicism in his dying days.”I was constantly exposed to two opposite religions in a very hostile way,”he said.
Grunberg said he hopes the documentary will prompt improved understanding of different religious views as well as the complexity of dealing with church-state issues.”When you say bring back prayers to school, you have to understand the consequence when you have a multicultural society,”he said. “Should we do it anyway and try to make everybody happy? … Or should we leave it as it is and keep the prayer only in private schools and homes … It’s a very important question.”DEA END BANKS
