Gov. Noem Announces Bill to Restore Protections for Prayer in Schools
PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem released the text of legislation to restore protections for prayer in schools. This bill will guarantee an opportunity to pray in schools at the start of every school day.
“Every student deserves the opportunity to begin their day with a calm, silent moment,” said Governor Kristi Noem. “I hope students will take this opportunity to say a quick prayer or reflect on their upcoming day. However they choose to take advantage of this time, it will be beneficial to students and teachers alike.”
Governor Noem previewed this legislation earlier this year when she promised to put prayer back in South Dakota schools. You can read the legislation here.
###
Great, she can use schools as a human shield for her own vanity project challenge to church and state.
Your link to read the legislation does not work.
Currently Americans for the Separation of Church and State publishes a “Know Your Rights Student Guide. Those rights are: Students, Did You Know:
1.You have the right to pray, discuss, or express your own personal beliefs with your friends and peers as long as you don’t disrupt class. You can form religious clubs and groups too, as long as they are started and run by students, not the school or teachers, and follow the same rules as all student clubs.
2. Teachers can’t make you pray at school or at any school event, and they can’t kick you out of a club or off a team if you refuse to pray.
2. And they can’t say one religion is true or correct or teach religious beliefs instead of facts (like creationism instead of evolution).
Cool! Does that mean the Satanic Church can have their prayers too? How about Wiccans?
To set aside a time for prayer violates the federal law. I don’t see any way this law can happen and be constitutional.
I would omagine this refers to a moment of silence rhat students can use to pray, meditate, or just think about the upcoming day. Nothing wrong with that. Actually, a little more prayer isnt going to hurt anyone in this nation righr now….it should be welcomed!
Texas (where I currently teach) has had this law on the books for several years. Having observed this in action for the past 4+ years, I’d like to share my perspective.
For starters, I am not in favor of school-mandated Prayer. The Supreme Court ruled in Engel v Vitale (1962) that school-mandated prayer violates the 1st Amendment, which states that the Government cannot establish a state religion, nor favor one religion over another. However, it also states that Government cannot deny people their right to express their religion.
Basically, students have the right to pray in public schools, as long as it is 1) Not led by school personnel (which would show favoritism of one religion (or lack thereof) over another, 2) Not disruptive to the instructional/educational process.
Under Texas Education Code § 25.901, “A public school student has an absolute right to individually, voluntarily, and silently pray or meditate in school in a manner that does not disrupt the instructional or other activities of the school. A person may not require, encourage, or coerce a student to engage in or refrain from such prayer or meditation during any school activity.”
A moment of silence is simply that… a moment of silence. What students decide to do with it is up to them. They can pray, meditate, reflect, recall the lyrics to “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, or simply close their eyelids for a quick 30-second catnap. They are not coerced to pray, only asked to remain silent for a moment.
In essence, a moment of silence is a compromise. It allows those who want to (or don’t want to) pray/meditate/reflect to do so in a manner that is non-disruptive and non-coercive. But knowing how passionate both sides feel on this issue, let us reflect on the words of one Larry David… “A good compromise is when both parties are dissatisfied”.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. 😉
If someone could just figure out how a student could take time to pray at home before school, all arguments pro and con on this issue could be avoided. That might involve parents though, can’t have that.
Unless of course, if someone wanting to raise their national profile with the conservative Christian base wants to stir the pot and is flush with one time federal money to pay lawyers, then I guess we’re going to have prayer in the public schools. You know what, just let them pray, their prayers will just be for the new iPhone and sex. Nothing has changed.
What a waste of time. People can think and pray for themselves without government interference. This is a great red meat topic for raising more money.
That’s exactly what it is. Noem doesn’t care one bit if it actually passes or gets implemented, it’s a vanity bill for her to use for publicity.
This blatant bit of virtue signaling is only to get her back on her dear leader’s radar when he amps up his search for a replacement for Mike Pence.