Ruling last week in favor of a football coach who insisted on praying on the field, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out 60 years of legal precedent, leaving the nation’s schools in the untenable position of having little recourse to protect students from religious coercion on campus.
The court has ruled repeatedly since 1962 that the Constitution’s wording against governmental establishment of religion prohibits prayer in the class and at other school functions such as graduation ceremonies. Students are captive and impressionable audiences; proselytizing on behalf of any religion devalues other religious beliefs. Their teachers and administrators hold sway over many aspects of their lives. Will they get a good grade? Make it on the team?
It’s not enough for school staff not to impose obvious consequences on students who don’t join their prayers. Students and their parents should never be made to feel as though this is a possibility, nor should they be encouraged to join a teacher’s prayers.
