In our Oct. 24 issue, we sided with an atheist Rhode Island student who claimed that her school was violating the First Amendment's establishment clause. In the school, a mural depicting a prayer hung on the wall and was titled "School Prayer." It was also Christian in nature, clearly violating the establishment clause of the Constitution.
Closer to home, the Clay County School Board recently told a local pastor that his traditional morning prayer service was unconstitutional.
Ron Baker, the pastor of Russell Baptist Church in Green Cove Springs, holds voluntary prayer services at the flagpoles outside of various elementary schools in the area, one of which he has been coming to for 12 years.
The school's district attorney, J. Bruce Bickner, opined that these services constituted a "clear violation of the establishment clause and a clear case of endorsement of religion generally and Christianity particularly."
He also said that it is unconstitutional "for a teacher, school administrator or other school district employee to join in a prayer session during their work time." Bickner has been encouraging Baker to move his services to before 7:10 a.m., when teachers usually arrive to school.
In this situation, Bickner shows a blatant lack of understanding about the establishment clause. In the previously discussed case of the Rhode Island school, the mural indicates that the prayer itself is connected to the school and therefore creates the appearance that the school is respecting a particular religion.
In the case at hand, the Florida school has neither endorsed nor tried to restrict Baker from coming to a school to conduct a voluntary prayer service for teachers and students. Bickner's interpretation that the reach of the First Amendment's "establishment clause" prohibits public employees from engaging in religious practices during their work time is way too broad and completely off-base.
The establishment clause, in relation to school prayer, should only prevent teachers or administrators from respecting beliefs or leading students in prayer. Otherwise, all outside voluntary associations do not violate the Constitution.
For instance, if a Muslim teacher needs to observe prayers throughout the day, his or her participation in religiously required prayer rituals violates neither the rights of her students nor the First Amendment.
Public employees should not have to give up their personal religious freedom when they walk through the door.
In its simplest interpretation, the purpose of the First Amendment was to prevent state-sponsored religion as well as religious persecution. Holding a voluntary prayer service at the flagpole in front of the school does neither of the above.
Bickner and the Clay County School Board should worry about more important matters than infringing upon voluntary associations.
