Was God kicked out of schools by the Supreme Court?

"One of the most frequently lamentations has been a mantra summarizing a decisive turning point that must be corrected: "In 1963, the Supreme Court kicked God out of the public schools” This refrain refers to the June 17, 1963, U.S Supreme Court decision in the case of Abington Township School District v. Schempp. The Supreme Court prohibited school officials from organizing or leading devotional Bible reading or prayers in public schools. The details of the ruling , which often are lost in the image evoked by the mantra, lay out thoughtful and constructive clarifications for public schools. No one is banned from bringing a Bible to school, or praying in school, or forming religious groups as long as the religious activities don’t interfere with the rights of others or the educational mission of the schools. Nor does the ruling ban the study of religion as an integral component of human history and experience. To protect the religious freedom of the students whatever their faith or beliefs might be, it does prohibit public school teachers and administrators from either promoting or denigrating religion."

-Charles Kimball

My Experience in Mecca

I shall never forget the time I stood infront of the Kaaba. I can still feel it's magnetic pull, the awe and wonder it inspired. The Kaaba, a simple black cube with golden lettering, was the pivot around which millions circumvented, like drones around a queen bee. It was the heart that pumped fresh blood, rejuvinated it's worshippers, brought back to life every voice that called for oneness of God. I felt my soul at bliss, losing myself in the river of voices. Each cell in my body praised God, each testified to His Oneness.

A Lesson In Painting.

Paint what you see, not what you know
See the abstractions that exist in nature, in realism,
the worlds contained within worlds,
of mystery and fantasy,
of illusions and distortions.
It becomes a matter of perception
Opening doors to universes.

Paint what you see, and learn the
language of nature, of Art,
immersed in millions of textures, shades,
colors and lines.
It becomes a matter of composition
of learning the many songs of nature

Paint what you see, and define your
own tools, ways that meet your own temperment
there are no rules, no laws
Paint because you feel,  and think, and cry and love.

Alone by Edgar Allan Poe

From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then- in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life- was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view. 

Edgar Allan Poe

"Nature" is what we see by Emily Dickinson

"Nature" is what we see—
The Hill—the Afternoon—
Squirrel—Eclipse— the Bumble bee—
Nay—Nature is Heaven—
Nature is what we hear—
The Bobolink—the Sea—
Thunder—the Cricket—
Nay—Nature is Harmony—
Nature is what we know—
Yet have no art to say—
So impotent Our Wisdom is
To her Simplicity. 

Art by Fatima Rizvi

What is hope?

"Hope" is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—

And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—

I've heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me. 

Emily Dickinson