It seems that in today's day and age, religion in schools is targeted for condemnation and banishment only if the religion in question is Christianity. That is why it came as no shock when a Wyoming school barred Christian children from holding a prayer circle in the school cafeteria to bless and give thanks for the food they were about to eat.
Thankfully, a Christian legal group, citing constitutional grounds, threatened the school with litigious consequence should it continue subject the students to its prayer ban. It seems that legal group was successful and the school superintendent will now allow the children to reconvene their prayer circle. At least for now. The Daily Caller provides detail:
A small group of students at Platte County School District #1 created a prayer circle in the cafeteria of Glendo High School to pray for their meal on October 15. The students prayed audibly, and it was not part of a regularly scheduled group. Afterward, the students say Principal Stanetta Twiford accosted one of the students and accused the student of forcing their religion on other students.
The principal allegedly said students needed permission to pray and then must go in the hallway or gymnasium if they wanted to talk to God. That way, other students wouldn’t see the prayer. The school argued the students were a captive audience being forced to witness the prayer. The father of two of the students appealed to the principal, who stood firm on the rule.
The parents of two of the students then reached out to the Alliance Defending Freedom, A Christian legal group, which now represents the students. ADF sent a letter to the district Dec. 4, threatening to take legal action if the district continued to ban the students from praying.
“School cafeterias are not religion-free zones, and they certainly do not involve captive audiences,” ADF said in a letter letter to the district. “Students in the cafeteria are not captive audiences because they can leave at any time or turn away from the quiet prayer in the corner…”
The school’s superintendent has since changed the school’s tone on the issue. The district sent a letter to ADF Thursday admitting their error and notifying the group that the students could resume praying.
“I feel our staff and district have a better understanding of students’ rights regarding prayer and how to handle future incidents and consider this incident closed,” the school said in a letter responding to ADF.
ADF Legal Counsel Jonathan Scruggs noted that the "U.S. Supreme Court has weighed in on this [matter of prayer] specifically" and concluded that "the First Amendment protects the right to pray in a non-disruptive manner not just in private but in public, too."
The First Amendment is one of our freedoms most abused by the left. It is consistently twisted to advance progressive ideology, yet when Christians or conservatives attempt to exercise their rights, they are routinely shut down. Thankfully this legal team cited our Constitution as the first line of defense in upholding Christian students right to pray. Ironically it is a case that, if it remained true to its mission, even the ACLU should have been on board with. But we all know that liberals only love upholding the Constitution when it suits their agenda.
