Don’t pass prayer bill

First, it was Engel v. Vital in 1963, and the last time, it was Santa Fe v. Doe in 2000. There were two cases in between. A total of four times the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down prayer in school.

I raise this because our legislature is likely to put a bill on the desk of our new governor allowing prayer in school.

The most important aspect of this issue involves the last Supreme Court decision. It was a case in which students were leading prayer over a PA system before high-school football games.

The court did not ban, in this case nor in any other, student-led prayer in private groups or meetings that were voluntarily being attended on school grounds. That is different than graduation ceremonies and sporting events.

From what I understand, the situation prompting current legislative action involves a prayer in the lines of a high school play, completely different from the issues above.

I bring this up in hopes that our legislators and governor do not put this bill into law. All it will do is cost us taxpayers money as the case is brought to court by individuals different than you.

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 7:34 PM with the headline "Don’t pass prayer bill."