I was not brought within any religious faith and have maintained my atheism into adulthood, which is not unusual in my family:
- My parents were not religious during their marriage, my mother remained atheist or agnostic throughout her life but my father tended towards religion after moving to North Carolina;
- my paternal grandfather was a non-practicing Jew who celebrated Christmas (without Christ, of course) and his mother (my great-grandmother) apparently strayed as she had no qualms of eating pork or mixing dairy and meat;
- I believe my maternal grandparents were Catholic but subsequently strayed from the flock, and my great uncle was a monk who left his order after realizing what bullshit it was;
- and I have no idea what faith my paternal grandmother was brought up in.
In a family archive I discovered a letter received by my paternal grandmother about prayers in my father’s kindergarten class:
February 27, 1951
Dear Mrs. Sosna,
To follow up our talk of this morning there a couple of suggestions I have to make. Your problem is one that requires a board policy, therefore, would you please present your complaint in writing addressed to the board of education? As I mentioned this morning, we would be glad to know of any legal basis that you may have.
The prayer used in the kindergarten is this: Come Lord Jesus be our guest, and let this food for us be blessed.
I might also ask you too for any suggestions that you may have of a prayer of thanks or a verse that might not be offensive to any religious belief.
Sincerely yours,
Ray W. Sprague
My grandmother was not afraid of challenging long-held practices, processes, assumptions, etc., and, true to her character, she challenged the school district, likely appalled upon learning that her oldest son – my father – said prayers in kindergarten prior to breaking bread, likely wasting no time in expressing her disagreement (likely disgust) and calling out the separation of church and state principles found in the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution. Way to cause trouble, Grandma!
I have not yet found any follow-ups so am unaware if or how this issue was resolved. Perhaps I should contact the Bensenville School District and see what school board minutes exist from 74 years ago. Is it too much to expect them to be digitized?
