The Prayer Bandwagon

In Texas, Gov. Rick Perry is running for reelection and has championed a return of organized prayer in public schools. In South Carolina, a state assemblyman is readying a school prayer bill for introduction in the Legislature early next year. The Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted 200 to 1 for a moment of silence from which students would need a note from home to be excused.

In the atmosphere that followed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, a lot of Americans understandably have turned to faith for sustenance. It is no big surprise that politicians are also jumping on the bandwagon with ill-considered efforts to tinker with religion in the public schools. And it isn’t just the people running for governor or trying to make a point with legislative constituents. The state Board of Education in Texas, which surely ought to know that students already can pray in schools, passed a vaguely worded resolution, citing the threat of “evil forces” and encouraging protection for those wanting to pray, as if their right somehow was in question or even under attack. It is not.

It is a settled matter of law that students are free to pray alone or with friends at lunchtime or in club meetings. They can study religion and even distribute religious literature, just as other groups can disseminate material.

As the expression goes, you could look it up. Officially sponsored prayer in schools, perhaps the biggest issue in the debate, was declared out of bounds in a 1962 U.S. Supreme Court decision. But that doesn’t mean religious life has gone with it. True, the law does remain in flux in some areas, and there is confusion caused even by the Supreme Court. For example, after barring student-led prayers over the public address system at high school football games in Texas last year, the Supreme Court this week let stand a Florida lower court ruling effectively approving religious messages by students at graduation, as long as students choose the speakers. While it’s not a ruling, it’s a bad decision. It is hard to see the difference between football proselytizing and graduation proselytizing.

Government can’t favor religion, but it can’t hinder it either, and the court regularly has shown concern that government not stand in the way. With all this leeway, the state-level demands for more prayer and “protection” for students who pray are unnecessary at best and cynically political at worst.