Virginia Senate OKs bill allowing students’ religious speech - Roanoke Times: News

Another example of wasted taxpayer time and money. I say that because I agree with the assessment made by Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty: "Students expressive rights are well-protected under current law. Allowing school administrators the discretion to control the content of official school events not only protects the school from charges of promoting religion, it helps school's protect students from being subjected to unwanted proselytizing from their peers. Is there a sufficient reason to upset that balance?"

This piece of legislation is redundant and necessary:

Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, said Carrico’s bill would create “a patchwork quilt” of local policies and would invite lawsuits. He said the state already has guidelines for school divisions to follow to protect religious expression.

“If this bill is passed, it almost guarantees litigation,” Edwards said. “Do we really need to spend time and money and effort litigating different school districts’ policies that are established under this bill?”

__

The Virginia Senate has passed legislation designed to protect the rights of public school students to voluntarily pray and participate in religious activities on school grounds, despite objections from lawmakers who said the proposal would invite lawsuits.

The Senate’s 20-18 vote Tuesday was a victory for Sen. Bill Carrico, R-Grayson County, one of the General Assembly’s most persistent advocates for allowing prayer and religious expression in public settings. The final vote broke largely along party lines. Just one Democrat, Sen. Phillip Puckett of Russell County, supported the bill. Sen. John Watkins of Powhatan was the only Republican to oppose it.
click here

Carrico’s SB 236 now goes to the Republican-dominated House of Delegates, where he expects it to get a friendly reception.

“Now we’ll see how the governor reacts to it,” Carrico said after Tuesday’s floor vote.

Virginia Senate OKs bill allowing students’ religious speech - Roanoke Times: News