This is what happens when we don't enforce separation of church and state.

Administrators are in the position of leading their students/faculties but misinterpreting the Constitution to justify endorsing one religion over another (as this principal did) is a bit of a stretch.

However, even worse...is allowing organized religion on our public campuses in the first place.

It boggles my mind when people don't understand that silent prayers on an individual basis would be a simple way to "pray for" others if they are so inclined. Gathering groups together and issuing oral prayers is, IMHO, clearly a tool for promoting a given religion and has no place in our public schools.

But given where this happened, I'm not really all that shocked after all.

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-10-20/story/clay-county-principals-memo-says-first-amendment-meant-only-christians

On more research, it appears as if I jumped the gun on this. Apparently "prayer at the pole" is allowed but administrators cannot endorse it. When they and their faculties,though, attend these prayer meetings, it can be intimidating to others who don't want to. Still a bad idea in my book.

Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association said it in his radio show. (In fact, it's possible that's where Larry Davis got it from.)


I'm not shocked either. It's just typical revisionism and bullying.

I wouldn't care to believe in a God who can't hear me unless I band together with a bunch of other people and yell at him in unison.

“Pastor Steven Andrew states: ‘Our children need God back in schools,’ and he is calling Christians nation-wide to bring back the Holy Bible and Christian prayer to schools,” the memo said. “The First Amendment was for Christianity, not other religions.”

100% unconstitutional, and NOT part of his job description as principal of a PUBLIC school.