Freedom of Religion and Speech OK in Florida Schools
On Friday, Gov. Charlie Crist signed a bill that allows teachers, coaches and principals in Florida to pray with students. If for some reason you thought that all this was settled with the Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools that was issued during the Clinton administration (2003) you are mistaken.
The Florida bill (HB 31) was watered down in anticipation of objections by the ACLU and folks of that ilk. Originally it would have allowed prayers at non-compulsory school activities, such as sports events, if requested by a majority of students. And lawmakers removed the words “prayer” and “invocation” from the bill. Still, the bill keeps schools from violating First Amendment rights of teachers and students.
The bill (which passed the Florida House committee in a 10-3 vote) came about as a result of events at Pace High School in Santa Rosa County last year. At that time, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit against the school district and as a result obtained an agreement, approved by a federal court, in which the Santa Rosa School Board agreed to stop prayers at school events.
The school district had teachers sign a document stating that they would not participate in any religious activity at school.
The Liberty Counsel in turn filed suit in federal court, arguing that the agreement made by the school district violates the First Amendment rights of students, staff members and others.
The new law prohibits such agreements by school districts.
As the St. Petersburg Times reported:
After hours of sweat-stained athletic camaraderie, Pace High School coach Mickey Lindsey must walk away from his players the moment they begin to pray.
“I believe in a family atmosphere, and for me to have to walk away from my kids when they want to lead a prayer, this is me turning my back on them,” he said. “That is not family.”
The new law affirms the rights of teachers to bow their heads during student-led prayer. It also prohibits teachers or school officials from preaching or promoting prayers during school functions.
Opponents of the new law argue that students might feel peer pressure to participate in prayers being said by fellow students or teammates and that non-praying students may feel “discomfort” by experiencing the prayers of others.
Nonsense.
As one lawmaker said, you aren’t forced to believe something just because you heard it. Another lawmaker, Rep. Greg Evers, R-Baker, a co-sponsor of the bill said:
“This is not necessarily a prayer bill…This is a rights bill.”
On the other side, Rep. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami,an opponent of the bill, said its passage could allow students to promote “hateful or discriminatory speech.”
“You are now allowing immature individuals to possibly say something that is outlandish,” he said.
Putting aside the ridiculousness of this response to the issue of the public expression of religion, we can’t help but note that the First Amendment does guarantee the right to say outlandish things. Good thing for Rep. Bullard.
Further,the DOE Guidelines state:
… in circumstances where students are entitled to pray, public schools may not restrict or censor their prayers on the ground that they might be deemed “too religious” to others. The Establishment Clause prohibits state officials from making judgments about what constitutes an appropriate prayer, and from favoring or disfavoring certain types of prayers—be they “nonsectarian” and “nonproselytizing” or the opposite—over others. …
(explaining that “one of the greatest dangers to the freedom of the individual to worship in his own way lay in the Government’s placing its official stamp of approval upon one particular kind of prayer or one particular form of religious services,” that “neither the power nor the prestige” of state officials may “be used to control, support or influence the kinds of prayer the American people can say,” and that the state is “without power to prescribe by law any particular form of prayer”)
As Evers said:
Evers said the law is designed to preempt future ACLU attacks on the First Amendment protections of freedom of speech, including religious speech, such as the recent attack in Santa Rosa County that led to then-Pace High School Student Body President Mary Allen being censored and barred from speaking at her own high school graduation, as well as Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman being charged with criminal contempt of court for offering a blessing at an adults-only event.
“I applaud the governor for signing this good bill into law today,” said Evers. “Our First Amendment rights, granted to us by the U.S. Constitution are absolute, and this law ensures that they remain that way. With the signing of this bill, students, like Mary Allen who want to thank God in a commencement speech or students who want to bow their head in silent prayer before taking a test, may now do so without fear of being questioned or stopped. This law will also serve to protect school officials, like Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman, from special interests who would like to see the First Amendment rights of students, faculty and Floridians restricted, or worse, denied.”
H/T: ADF Alliance
