Members of the Pickens County School Board of Trustees in Easley, S.C., usually open their meetings by praying. They’re considering a change in policy—to bring in local clergy to pray instead. Please contact them now and let them know the only policy change they need is to remove prayer altogether as an official school board function.
The current policy provides for board members to give nonsectarian prayers to start the meeting. Under the new policy, the board would send invitations to give an invocation to clergy members listed in a database of local religious communities. This would allow for sectarian, presumably mostly Christian, prayers.
FFRF has sent the board several letters. An attorney for the board responded only to say the board believed it was in compliance with the law, referencing cases pertaining to prayer at meetings of legislative bodies (not school boards).
Prayer at public school board meetings is different from other government meetings because it takes place in the school context. Two federal appellate courts have ruled that school board prayer is unconstitutional. School board members should be modeling respect for more than 65 years of Supreme Court precedent removing proselytizing and religious ritual from public school functions. Religion in our public schools and on our public school boards is divisive. School board members can pray privately, on their own time and dime.
Tell Pickens County School Board to stop praying and get to work - Freedom From Religion Foundation
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