A Florida State Senate Committee today voted 4-1 to advance legislation that purports to authorize student-led prayer at high school graduations, football games and other public school events. Sadly, the debate missed the point, suggesting that opposition to prayer in schools is the same as opposition to prayer generally.
Sen. Larcenia Bullard, D-Miami, who argued that students needed to pray and that prayer was instrumental in her recovery from cancer last year. Bullard, who is a practicing Episcopalian, missed most of the 2011 legislative session because of severe health problems.
"In private schools, they pray," she said. "In parochial schools, they pray. But in public schools, we're saying no, this vicious thing called prayer is something we don't want."
No. We are not saying we don't want prayer. We are saying we don't want school officials organizing such an essential, personal religious exercise.We don't want students to have to choose between participating in a prayer and attending important school events with their peers. We are most of all not saying prayer is "vicious", or harmful or undesirable. We are saying it is an intensely sacred expression of communication between an individual and their God, and that government should stay out of the business of promoting it.
The bill has a long way to go before it would become law, but is legislation worth watching.
