Public School Prayer before game over PA system....

[JimmyTwoToes]

This is for a public school, Lord's Prayer was led over a PA system before ballgame. ( EDIT: Forgot to mention that the county was approached by an organization and told to cease )

This was the "technicality" offered by someone:

"They got in touch with [redacted] saying that allowing prayer again at ball games is unconstitutional over the school's sound system. Soooo, I took my privately owned system up there."


That doesn't seem to hold water given that not just anyone can show up with a PA system and say anything.

This was also offered up:

"The student led prayer is only unconstitutional if it is "scheduled".

If it's something they're doing regularly before the event, would it not be considered scheduled?


Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[xylene]

What state did this hypothetical occur in?

 

[xylene]

Don't like the school prayer start going

"Boo! Boo! Boo! Down with god! No Sharia Law in Schools! Boo!"

Bring your own megaphone. Clearly it is allowed.

 

[JimmyTwoToes]

What state did this hypothetical occur in?

Kentucky

 

[JimmyTwoToes]

Don't like the school prayer start going

"Boo! Boo! Boo! Down with god! No Sharia Law in Schools! Boo!"

Bring your own megaphone. Clearly it is allowed.

Haha. Might get the "fear of God" put to me via baseball bat.

 

[justalayman]

who recited the prayer?

the Supreme Court ruling is that the school cannot "sponsor" the prayer. Depending on a lot of unknown facts, they may or may not be sponsoring the prayer even with what is going on now.

 

[quincy]

Here is a link to an article on the Bell County High School's pre-game prayers: http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/Pre-game-prayer-returning-to-Bell-County-High-School--322357892.html

And here is a link to The First Amendment Center with game prayer issues in other schools and states: http://firstamendmentcenter.org/tag/game-prayer

(sorry about your other 8 toes)

 

[justalayman]

quincy;

when I go to your first link it says page not found

 

[JimmyTwoToes]

My powers of obfuscation, like my other 8 toes, are absent.

 

[quincy]

quincy;

when I go to your first link it says page not found

I forgot to add the "www."

Here is a link to a Washington Times article on the pre-game prayers starting up again at the high school (if the link works - I don't have much luck getting them right the first time): http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/aug/25/group-renews-complaint-about-pre-game-prayer/

 

[ajkroy]

You forget that most public school children are led in a school-sponsored Pledge of Allegiance every morning. I require that my students stand for it, but do not require that my students actually recite it. Many of them notice that I refrain from saying "under god".

It is my opinion that the Pledge, as written, is not appropriate for public schools.

 

[quincy]

... It is my opinion that the Pledge, as written, is not appropriate for public schools.

I agree that it is not appropriate for public schools, although the argument has always been that the Pledge of Allegiance is not religious but is, instead, patriotic.

The US Supreme Court did rule, in the 1943 case, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 US 624, that requiring a person to say the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional because it violated a person's 1st and 14th Amendment rights.

And this was before the "under God" was added to the Pledge.

It wasn't until 1954 that Congress added "under God" to the original wording (on request of President Eisenhower). Many lawsuits have followed.



*West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/319/624.html