The Alabama state legislature is looking to show how uninformed about
the First Amendment they really are. A house committee in the state has
pushed forward a bill to require that she school day open with a
christian prayer. Not just allow, but require.
link
Wasn't this issue settled fifty years ago by the Supreme Court?
Their reasoning is that if Congress can open with a prayer, then so can
schools. I personally feel that Congress should not be opening with an
officially sanctioned christian prayer. The constitutionality of that
practice can be debated. But when you have a captive group of children
that cannot come and go at will from the proceedings, that definitely
oversteps the boundary set up by the First Amendment. It has always been
legal for children and teachers alike to pray while in school, it is
the mandated, school-led prayer that is prohibited.
I looked at the text of the bill, it thinly disguises the prayer
requirement by saying that the prayer time is to instruct the students
in the opening procedures of Congress. The prayer is to be one of
the prayers that was given by the House or Senate chaplain, or a guest
member of the clergy. If this actually becomes law, I would encourage all
teachers in Alabama to research and find a specifically non-christian
prayer that was offered to open Congress, and then encourage their
students to go home and tell their parents what religious tradition the
daily prayer comes from to the christians can get an understanding of
what their privileged viewpoint actually does. You can bet the law
would be repealed in a hurry.
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