Student Initiated Prayer on Public School Campuses
I have heard it said, time and time again, that the kids in public school cannot pray. The sad thing is that I too have been guilty of saying the same thing.
As is common among many of my readers, we grew up in a different time. It was an era of true religious liberty. We started the day at school with the pledge of allegiance, a Bible verse or story, and prayed. Most often than not the teacher was the one leading the prayer. She would pray for her students, their families, the school and staff, the country, and any number of others things pertinent to that moment and time. These things were common in the classrooms in those days, but times changed.We came to school one day and the Bible verse and story was replaced by announcements; the prayer was prayed in some classrooms, while others did not say a prayer. Then the day came when we prayed in certain rooms before the lunch period. Then, there was no prayer said, no pledge voiced, and no Bible read. Fear took over, lawsuits were suggested to anyone found doing anything remotely religious, and the morale and morals of the land changed for the worse.
Times changed, winds of oppression blew, storm clouds gathered in several places causing the prayers to cease all together. All be it, the rule was that the prayers could not be initiated by a teacher, staff member, or administrator, the caution was so severe that the prayers ceased to exist.In many public schools around the country the pledge, the commandments, the Bible or prayer is not welcomed. I am proud to say that every morning my 5th grade girl enters her classroom and settles in for the beginning of the day, which begins with a public address that originates in the office of her middle school. They begin the day by listening as an adult welcomes everyone to school that day. Then the pledge is recited, and there is a moment of silence.
All of this is led by an administrative staff member! Yet, there are those who say prayer is not to be said at school, the pledge is not desirable for the public school, and we are raising a generation of heathens.I share my personal story with you, so that you will know that the prayer, the pledge and God are still welcomed in the public school. Yes, I would love to see the Bible verse or Bible story come back and my child allowed to be led in prayer by a public educator. But I also know that should we allow that, then we open Pandora’s Box to all number of other off the wall and radical religious movements that have nothing to do with Jesus.
Some will yell at the top of their lungs regarding the issue of separation of church and state. What they do not say, and what I do comprehend, is that they have not read or studied that concept. They want to be heard, so they call out some phrase of the law which sounds real intelligent, but they could not explain it nor apply it to reality.The clause is a part of the Bill of Rights. The function of the Bill of Rights is to protect the rights of the citizens of the United States. The first ten amendments were added to the Constitution to protect the citizens’ rights against actions by a national government.
The first amendment, representing the first statement of the Bill of Rights, provides for freedom of religion. It says that every American is free to follow the religion of his or her own choice, or not to practice any religion at all. Within this amendment, the establishment of the separation of church and state exist, whereby the government shall not favor any one religion or establish a religion. Some liberal politicians have attempted to take this amendment and subvert it to their own way of thinking. By doing so, they have issued one provision after other, one statement after another, desiring to limit the free exercise of religion in America. Through their bluffing and puffing they have instilled fear in many to the point that they want to have nothing to do with the exercise of religion, particularly on public school campuses.
But I must tell you that there are some things which our students can do on the public campus which are within the letter of the law.A few years ago, Matthew D. Staver with the Liberty Counsel wrote an opinion that I recently came into possession of and which answers a wide number of questions which I had related to the subject of public schools and religious exercise.
He reminds readers that the student who goes to a public school campus does not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or freedom of religion when they enter the schoolhouse gate” Since that is true they may use non-instructional time to express their opinions verbally or in writing.These non-instructional times are spelled out as follows: before or after school, in between classes, during the lunch hour, on the playing field, and at any other time when instruction is not taking place.
He writes, “Prayer is a form of speech and therefore during non-instructional time, students do have the constitutional right to pray individually or in groups.”The See You At The Pole event is a nationwide campaign which takes place in September of every year.
According to the official website at www.syatp.com the See You At The Pole event is a Global Day of Student Prayer.See You at the Pole™, the global day of student prayer, began in 1990 as a grass roots movement with ten students praying at their school. Twenty years later, millions pray on their campuses on the fourth Wednesday in September.
See You at the Pole™ is simply a prayer rally where students meet at the school flagpole before school to lift up their friends, families, teachers, school, and nation to God. See You at the Pole™ is a student-initiated, student-organized, and student-led event.
See You at the Pole™ is simply a prayer rally where students meet at the school flagpole before school to lift up their friends, families, teachers, school, and nation to God. See You at the Pole™ is a student-initiated, student-organized, and student-led event.
See You at the Pole (SYATP) is an annual gathering of Christian students of all ages at a flagpole in front of their local school for prayer, scripture-reading and worship, during the early morning before school starts. The American SYATP events occur on every fourth Wednesday of September. The events began in 1990, in the United States, where public schools cannot sponsor prayers and some Christians see public schools as hostile to Christian students. It has grown by word of mouth, announcements at youth rallies and churches, and the Internet and now occurs internationally. In 2005, over two million students in the U.S. participated, as well as students in Canada, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Germany, Ghana, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, South Korea, Malaysia, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Scotland, and South Africa.
In September of this year, our Middle School SGA hosted the SYATP event on their campus. The members of the SGA contacted two local preachers, the honor guard, and made all of the arrangements. I am sure they consulted with their school sponsors, but otherwise, it was the students doing the work and making it happen.
That Wednesday morning it was raining, so the students gathered in the gym and at 7:30 the SYATP became the See You In The Gym, with around 300 middle school students gathered for prayer, the pledge of allegiance, and song. It was the best I have ever attended and the preachers, at the invitation of the SGA members offered prayers for the students.A week later I heard through the students that they have been asked to verify who set the SYATP rally up, who led it, who made decisions, and the list was too long to make mention of, with additional reports of several children who reported to members of the Board of Education they felt pressure to attend. With these things going on the Board of Education has talked about the SYATP rally at the Middle School in their monthly meeting and this month went into executive session to discuss the event.
It is my understanding there was also a question as to who made the decision and who authorized the decision for the event to be moved from the front lawn where the flag pole is to the gym. It seems that some folks saw the name of the event at See You At The Pole and not See You In The Gym. The humor is not lost to me.Staver writes, “The annual See You At The Pole event is an example of the constitutional rights of students to pray in groups. Students do not lose the right to speak or pray simply because they enter the public school campus. Students may pray around a flagpole or on other public school grounds during non-instructional time. Schools may not prohibit students from praying in this manner. Students may not block sidewalks or driveways, nor should students use megaphones to announce their meeting or present their message if such would be disruptive to the ordinary operation of the school.”
These types of events are not relegated to annual times of national importance. Students may opt to gather for prayer once a month, once a week, or every day; the rule is that it must be student initiated and held during non-instructional time. Student led prayer is on the same level with other secular club activities and may use the school facilities in the same manner.Just as they have the right to verbally speak on the school campus during non-instructional time, they also have the right to distribute religious literature. Religious clubs have the same right to sponsor activities as other clubs in the public school. Simply meaning, that if a secular club has permission to display posters or use the public address system to make announcements regarding their planned and upcoming events, religious clubs are to be given the same access and the same consideration to promote their events or activities.
With this said, it is very clear that the First Amendment rights of students in public school have the right to sponsor and conduct events such as See You At The Pole or other appropriate activities. Staver wrote, “The Supreme Court has unequivocally stated that students have a First Amendment right to pray before, during, or after the school day.”School officials, boards, and administrators need to educate themselves regarding the First Amendment rights of students. They should not ever be seen as acting out of bigotry, religious bias or ignorance; if they act in a “knee jerk” method toward complaints they may receive, this will be the perception and what is perceived far outweighs what they say or believe.
There are actions which can be taken in regards to misunderstandings or students and/or public school employees receiving negative response from attempts to practice their First Amendment rights on the public school campus:v The United States Department of Education has material titled, “Guidelines on Religious Expression in Public Schools.” This publication points out that students have the right to participate in STATP as a protected act of religious expression.
v Contact Southeast Law Institute. A. Eric Johnston, president, will be happy to discuss with you the things you need to know related constitutional and public policy issues. Website: www.southeastlawinstitute.org or email: AEJ@SoutheastlawInstitute.org
