Could prayer in schools be making a comeback?
Two attorneys in California say it could.
Late last week, a legal opinion letter was sent to San Diego's Board of Education by two attorneys on behalf of Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) – a legal group that protects religious freedom. In the letter, Pete Lepiscopo and former State Sen. Bill Morrow – who recently formed Lepiscopo & Morrow, LLP – argued for prayer rights for Christian and Jewish students in the school system since a group of Muslim students had already been given the right earlier.
(Carver Charter School incident last week).
Should the district agree, it would be a large victory towards getting prayer back into public education settings, the attorneys say.
“The School District has created the opportunity to return prayer to school,” explained Lepiscopo, in a statement. “What can be better than children praying while they are in school?"
Prayer in school has been an increasingly controversial subject over the past years and has mostly disappeared from the public sector to keep the separation of church and state.
The attorneys are now asking that classrooms be set aside for at least one hour a day, so that other religious students, as well as faculty, can meet their needs for prayer. The time would be during recess as to make it not obligatory.