Arkansas School District Suspends Prayers at Games and Meetings

The Pea Ridge Public School District in Arkansas recently announced that it will no longer schedule public prayers at games or school board meetings. This announcement comes after a resident notified the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) of public prayers being conducted, which subsequently contacted the school. The following will review the incident in questions as well as cover why prayer at public school events is deemed unconstitutional

The School’s Reaction to FFRC

In a statement issued shortly after receipt of the FFRF’s letter, a spokesperson for the school commented during a meeting that something was “noticeably absent.” The spokesperson also commented while the board invited prayers among community members individually, it must be “cognizant of taxpayer’s money” and that the decision to no longer perform public prayers was in the best interest of the school district.

Following this announcement, numerous people in Pea Ridge Public Schools expressed disapproval of the decision to stop praying in this manner.

The Law behind the Prohibition on Public Prayers in Public Schools

In its letter to Pea Ridge Public Schools, the FFRF letter explained the legal basis behind why public prayers are prohibited at public schools. The Supreme Court has also struck down prayers that are performed over public school loudspeakers at athletic events and policies that authorize students to vote on whether prayer should be held at high school football games.

Tasked with explaining its rationale, the Supreme Court explained that because football games are school-sponsored events, hosting prayer at them is unconstitutional just as it would be anywhere else in public schools. Even if the prayer is led by students, the Supreme Court has found that this would cause an observer to perceive the school as endorsing religion. The FFRF found that the Pea Ridge games were unconstitutional in the same way and that any public event at the school must be designed to protect the freedom of all students, which include those individuals who would prefer not to participate in prayer.

In establishing that public prayer is also prohibited at public school meetings, the FFRF pointed to the Indian River School District case. In this case, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals emphasized that school board prayer is similar to other school prayer cases when the protection of children from coercion from religious events is involved. Because children are at an increased risk of absorbing the lessons of adults concerning what is appropriate and right, the court found that prayers at public school board meetings are particularly dangerous.

The Goal of the Universal Life Church’s Blog

While the origins of the required separation between church and state are hundreds of years old, each year many cases test the boundaries of this relationship. The Universal Life Church’s blog is dedicated to documenting the most noteworthy of these cases in a fair and just manner.