Atheist wins court battle over school banner.

Last week, a judge ordered the removal of a 49-year-old banner in a gymnasium at Cranston West High School in Rhode Island.  The banner reads as follows, “Our Heavenly Father, Grant us each day the desire to do our best, To grow mentally and morally as well as physically, To be kind and helpful to our classmates and teachers, To be honest with ourselves as well as with others, Help us to be good sports and smile when we lose as well as when we win, Teach us the value of true friendship, Help us always to conduct ourselves so as to bring credit to Cranston High School West. Amen” (WPRI.com, January 12, 2012).  The lawsuit was brought by an ACLU-supported sixteen-year-old student who stated, “I’m an Atheist, and I don’t believe in the Heavenly Father, so I shouldn’t have to look at it [the banner].”  The school is considering whether to appeal the case and has stalled in removing the banner (CBS/Associated Press, January 12, 2012).

Long ago, God prophesied that the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh would become a “company of nations” and a “great nation” (Genesis 48:17-19)—Great Britain and the United States (see our booklet The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy).  The U.S. has been a God-fearing nation founded on biblical principles, thus the references to God in many of its founding documents, monuments and even its currency.  It is sad to watch the Israelite-descended nations slowly reject their God-given heritage as citizens seek to do what is right in their own eyes (Deuteronomy 12:8).