Attorney: Constitution Concurs With Missouri Ruling Against Teacher-Led Prayers
by Jim Brown
September 18, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A pro-family attorney specializing in constitutional law says he's not surprised a federal judge has ordered a Missouri school to end school-initiated or sponsored prayer or other religious activities.Judge Henry Autrey's ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of a woman and her two children, who attend Doniphan (Missouri) Elementary School. The lawsuit targeted two mandatory school assemblies that began with teachers leading prayer.
Mike DePrimo, senior litigation counsel with the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, says Autrey's ruling is consistent with more than four decades of U.S. Supreme Court case law going back to 1963.
"For over 40 years the United States' Supreme Court has said that there cannot be any government-sponsored or school-sponsored prayer in the public schools," DePrimo notes. "The court has made clear that students themselves are free to pray and free to initiate prayer, but it cannot be sponsored by the school," he says.
Autrey did say, however, that his ruling does not bar student-initiated prayer. Also, the judge noted, school employees are permitted to "pray privately, as long as students are not included in or exposed to the prayer."
In other words, the AFA Law Center attorney explains, "A teacher doesn't surrender all of her constitutional rights simply because she teaches in a public school; however, as a government official, she is required to abide by the Constitution as it's been interpreted by the Supreme Court." This means that, "as a government official, a teacher cannot lead students in prayer," he says.
So, while there is nothing in the Constitution of the United States that says government officials cannot pray, DePrimo adds, federal courts have repeatedly declared that government-sponsored prayer violates the so-called "separation of church and state." He says the Doniphan R-I School District would be wise not to appeal Judge Autrey's ruling in this matter.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
