GOP Pushes for Local Control of School Prayer

The leading Republican proposal to restore “voluntary prayer” in public schools would let local school authorities require the saying of a prayer at the beginning of each class day. Students who do not wish to participate could sit silently or leave the room, the measure’s prime House sponsor says.

The amendment would not make prayer mandatory, nor would state or federal governments be entitled to compose an official school prayer. However, its sponsors said that local school officials would have wide latitude to encourage and institute school prayers.

“We want to let local school boards make the decision,” said Rep. Ernest Istook Jr. (R-Okla.), who has introduced a proposed constitutional amendment on school prayer. “It does not require that prayers be held. But why should an ACLU attorney from New York City tell the people in Chandler, Okla., that they cannot have prayer in the public schools? That’s the essence of it.”

Istook and other sponsors declined to spell out exactly how the system they envision would work in practice.

For instance, it is not clear whether school boards might be permitted to adopt a prayer or several prayers--The Lord’s Prayer or a Psalm--to be used throughout a school system. Another possibility would allow individual teachers or even students to choose the prayer for their classroom or school, perhaps rotating among a group.

If nothing else, the new Republican proposal has prompted sharp dispute over how to define voluntary prayer.

“Clearly when (President) Clinton speaks about voluntary prayer, he means something quite different from (House Speaker-to-be Newt) Gingrich and Istook,” said Elliot Mincberg, legal director for People for the American Way, a liberal group that opposes school-sponsored prayers.

On Monday, Gingrich, a Georgia Republican, turned a new spotlight on the school prayer issue when he said he would seek a vote “before the July 4 break” on the proposed amendment introduced by Istook.

Asked about the proposal in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Tuesday, Clinton said: “I’ll be glad to discuss it with them. I want to see what the details are. . . . It depends on what it says.”

Clinton’s remarks were interpreted by some, especially those opposed to school prayer, as moving further toward the Republican position than his words explicitly said. On Thursday, the White House emphasized that the President’s position is essentially the same it has been for years.

Clinton would favor a new law that ensures students have a right to observe “a moment of silence” at their desks. “The President has long supported a moment of silence, but that can be done (by statute),” said Deputy White House Counsel Joel Klein. “He doesn’t see the need for a constitutional amendment.”

Opposition to the proposed amendment is by no means limited to the Administration and liberal groups.

Two leaders of Christian organizations said Thursday that they oppose the proposed amendment as it is now drawn because it would give local governments too much power over prayer.

“When the government sponsors prayer, that’s not good news for religion,” said Steven McFarland, director of the Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom. “What do you do if you’re in Utah and 98% of the class is Mormon and you are a Jew or a Catholic or a fundamentalist Christian? It’s dangerous for religious freedom because there is an element of coercion involved.”

Ralph Reed, executive director of the Christian Coalition, said he is also concerned about government sponsorship of prayer.

“We are completely opposed to any prayer that would be composed by, directed by or supervised by the government,” Reed said. “We support non-sectarian, student-initiated prayer that is voluntary. That is a free-speech issue, not a religion issue.”

The amendment, introduced by Istook with 44 co-sponsors, says: “Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to prohibit individual or group prayer in public schools or other public institutions. No person shall be required by the United States or by any state to participate in prayer. Neither the United States nor any state shall compose the words of any prayer to be said in public schools.”

If approved by two-thirds of the House and Senate, and three-fourths of the state legislatures, the amendment would reverse a series of Supreme Court rulings that since 1962 have barred officially sponsored school prayers. Presumably, because of the phrase, “other public institutions,” it would also allow official prayers in government offices, prisons and courtrooms.

“The only restriction that I see (in the Republican proposal) is that the school board or the teacher can’t write the prayer. But it would allow them to select a prayer,” Mincberg said.

Ten years ago, at the height of his popularity, then-President Ronald Reagan pressed the Senate to approve an identically worded amendment, but it fell 11 votes short of the necessary two-thirds majority. At the time, many senators said they decided to oppose the amendment when 50 prominent church organizations, representing Protestants, Catholics and Jews, announced their opposition.

Among the “no” votes then were seven Republicans who will return to Capitol Hill in January. They are Sens. John H. Chafee of Rhode Island, William S. Cohen of Maine, Slade Gorton of Washington, Mark O. Hatfield of Oregon, Nancy Landon Kassebaum of Kansas, Bob Packwood of Oregon and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

A few months after the prayer amendment failed in 1984, Congress passed the Equal Access Act, which gives secondary-school students the right to pray together or read the Bible on campus before class, during lunch or after school.

“If you want genuine, unencumbered prayer by students, it is already guaranteed under the Equal Access Act,” McFarland said. “We don’t need to mess with the First Amendment.”

But some conservative activists are saying they want to go further to allow prayer in classrooms.

“A voluntary moment of silence is not sufficient,” said Gary Bauer, executive director of the Family Research Council here and a former adviser in the Reagan White House.

Both he and Reed said they want to press a constitutional amendment that would clear the way for students to lead group prayers in school.

“We haven’t worked out the details yet, but we want to build something that will have the widest possible support,” Bauer said.

Istook said he is confident that the prayer amendment will win a two-thirds majority in the House. He noted that opinion polls consistently show that about three-fourths of respondents say they favor school prayer.

“I think the new Congress will reflect that strong majority viewpoint,” he said. “School prayer was commonplace for a couple hundred years--until the ‘60s. I just don’t think most Americans want the Constitution being used as a weapon against their values.”