“Our nation has lost its way in having lost a belief of a higher power,” said Christi Fraga, a Miami-Dade school board member who in May successfully proposed establishing an annual day of prayer in her district. “So in my community, there has been a cry for help — a cry to allow prayer in our schools.” Fraga added of the court’s ruling: “I hope it brings back our country to its foundation.”
WaPo:
After the Extreme Court ruled in favor of a Washington state football coach who knelt at midfield to pray and was joined by student-athletes, school boards across the country have contemplated how they can bring back prayer in our public schools.
- A Michigan superintendent is pondering whether coaches should lead students in pre-game prayer.
- A school board member in
- Florida wants her district to teach students about prayer and offer religious studies.
- In Hawaii, the leader of a faith- and family-focused activism group sees a path to altering state policy that says public-school employees cannot initiate prayer on campus.
- In at least three states, Illinois, Alabama and Oregon, school personnel have said they are reviewing their policies on employee prayer.
- In Ohio, an hour after the Supreme Court’s ruling was published, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted urged school districts to review and update their policies on school prayer.
- in Kentucky, a Republican lawmaker and a Lexington rabbi teamed up on a bill requiring public-school students to silently pray, meditate or reflect in class.
- Florida passed a similar law in June 2021 that requires a moment of silence each day.
Laurie Gaylor, co-founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation stated that her organization has fought an uphill battle even before the court’s ruling. She claims that some schools tend to ignore previous court rulings from the 1960s and 1970s that public schools cannot require students to recite prayers, cannot allow teachers to lead students in prayer and generally cannot promote or inhibit religion at school.
Parents have expressed their concerns about school prayer, which will more than likely default to Christian prayer and exclude other non-Christian religions. School prayer could also coerce kids from agnostic or atheist families to espouse values and beliefs their parents do not share.
Read more from the link provided above.
A friendly reminder: No scripture and/or proselytizing.
