Written by Don Byrd
As promised, the Governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, vetoed legislation last week that sought to authorize student religious expression in public schools.
The Washington Post has more:
Proponents of the bill, sponsored by state Sen. Charles W. Carrico, Sr. (R-Grayson County), said it would protect students’ freedom of religious expression. But McAuliffe said in a statement Friday that students already have this freedom.
…
He said the bill could subject schools to litigation by creating the potential for school-sponsored religious activities.
Student religious expression bills like Virginia’s (and the one passed in Tennessee, and others) offer to solve problems that don’t exist, and in the process create new headaches for administrators and new threats to religious liberty. Students are already free to pray in public schools as long as they don’t disrupt the educational mission of the school. Likewise, students are free to meet together and discuss religious views to the same extent they can discuss non-religious views.
What they can’t do is exploit opportunities as official speakers at school functions to promote religion to a captive audience of students. Instead of clarifying these rules, the current fad of student expression legislation muddies these important distinctions, invites constitutional violations, and reinforces the misconception that students are forced to abandon their religion at the schoolhouse door.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
