See you at the Pole

While this may be a stance most youth leaders won’t take, I’d like to express to youth and their families, why I do not support the upcoming annual See You at the Pole (SYATP) event.

The SYATP website declares: “See You at the Pole™ isn't about groups, grades, clothes, or churches. It's about praying. It's about all of us coming together and laying aside all the labels for one day, simply to call out to God, just as Jesus did in John 17 and say, "Lord, may we be one in you--whether jocks, preps, geeks, Pentecostals, Baptists, Catholics, freshmen, or seniors--may the world believe that You are real and have sent us to touch other through you, regardless of the dividing lines drawn by a broken world!" So are you in? Are you ready whatever group you're in, to join us in the circle?”

On some levels these ideas are good and clearly well intentioned. Students, especially Christians, called upon by God, should question social groups, labels, and seek unity and comfort in a world filled with so many challenges (especially during middle and high school years).

On many more vital levels though, the SYATP stance not only doesn’t go far enough in one area, it goes too far in its exclusivity: there’s an innate hypocrisy within the project.

Let me first explain why I don’t think the project doesn’t challenge students (especially Christian students) at a high enough level. Asking students to “(lay) aside all the labels for one day” is a good first step, but it is by no means good enough. Every day students hear and say comments about the groups they identify for others and identity with themselves. Laying aside a label one day indicates it’s fine to pick that label up the moment the prayer is over, or at the very least, adopt the label again the next morning. While it’s naïve to think labels will ever disappear, students (and adults) need to be more aware of possible negative effects labels can have. How closely related are labels to stereotypes, after all? Praying for a few moments before school together with people of different groups may be a good start, but dialoguing about our differences, the labels we give those differences, needs to be a next step.

As for how I view the exclusivity and hypocrisy. Let’s say you’re a Jewish, Muslim, Jehovah Witness, atheist or any other non-Christian type student trying to go to school on SYATP day. SYATP states it’s not about groups, but clearly, they’re putting a limit to whose group really counts – they’re talking about the Conservative Christian students. They’re the groups they’re concerned about – all other students aren’t welcomed. How is that being one in the Lord? While they say they gather “regardless of the dividing lines drawn by a broken world,” they are enforcing several dividing lines as a foundation for their own project. A truly inclusive prayer around the flag pole would welcome various forms of prayer from various religions seeking a closer relationship with God. School social networks can be exclusive and dangerous as they are, why use God and prayer to encourage the dividing lines?

“Fortunately, there is a Biblical passage which precisely defines "What Would Jesus Do" about prayer in public with fellow believers. He specifically prohibited public prayer, and stressed that prayer is to be performed only when one is alone:
Matthew 6:5-6: "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men....when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret...."
The synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) contain many references to Jesus praying. In each case, he withdrew from others and went off by himself to find an isolated place where he could pray alone. Other passages indicate that it is permissible to give thanks to God before a communal meal. More details.
It would appear that Jesus promoted private prayer only, while condemning prayer in public. Christians who wish to follow the Bible and Jesus' teachings might consider not attending a SYATP event.” (Religious Tolerance)

An interesting website with more detailed challenges to SYATP: http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_syatp.htm

This year’s SYATP takes place between Yom Kippur and Sukkot and during Ramadan. Why not make this prayer day an opportunity to learn about the Abrahamic religions and discover unity there?