Add ‘Religious Equality’ to Constitution, House Urged : Politics: Amendment would permit student-led prayers in public schools and public funding to parochial schools.

A broad “religious equality” amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which would permit student-led prayers in public schools and public funding to parochial schools, was introduced in the House Wednesday.

The amendment’s proponents, including groups such as the Christian Legal Society, the National Assn. of Evangelicals and the Orange County-based Traditional Values Coalition, say the proposal is aimed at protecting the rights of all Americans to express their religion without discrimination.

Under their interpretation, the proposal would allow students to offer prayers on a voluntary basis at graduation ceremonies, let workers hold religious studies during job breaks and permit display of a manger scene in a town square.

“We don’t want any hostility expressed against religious expression,” said the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition. “This amendment overturns 50 years of mixed [court] interpretations and puts the freedom to have religious expression on the same plane and the same level as [freedom of] speech.”

Opponents of the measure, however, labeled it “religious tyranny.”

If approved, the amendment “would allow coercive religious worship in public schools, force taxpayers to support churches, permit sectarian displays at government buildings and sanction broad-based church-state entanglement,” said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

The language introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.) and Rep. Charles T. Canady (R-Fla.) states: “Neither the United States nor any state shall deny benefits to, or otherwise discriminate against, any private person or group on account of religious expression, belief, or identity; nor shall the prohibition on laws respecting an establishment of religion be construed to require such discrimination.”

The amendment does not include a specific “school prayer” provision pushed by some conservative evangelical groups and stops short of allowing teachers or school officials to lead prayers.

Sheldon said the amendment was written broadly to increase its chances of passage, since the “school prayer” provision is a “red flag” for opponents.

Amendments require a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate and then must be ratified by three-fourths of the states.