November 26, 2001

House resolution sparks new debate on school prayer
___By Robert Marus
___ABP Washington Bureau
___WASHINGTON (ABP)--A non-binding resolution by the U.S. House of Representatives has sparked a new debate over school prayer.
___Critics said the Nov. 15 resolution endorses government-sponsored prayers in public schools, which the Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional. Supporters countered that it simply encourages schools to allow students to pray voluntarily, a practice recently upheld by the high court.
___The resolution passed on a vote of 297-125, with three Republicans voting in opposition and 84 Democrats in support. The House suspended its own rules to pass the resolution without first sending it through the usual committee process.
___House Concurrent Resolution 239 stipulates that "schools in the United States should set aside a sufficient period of time to allow children to pray for, or quietly reflect on behalf of, the nation during this time of struggle against the forces of international terrorism."
___Walter Jones, R-N.C., a freshman congressman closely identified with the Religious Right, sponsored the resolution.
___Religious-liberty groups quickly denounced the resolution. Americans United for Separation of Church and State called it "divisive" and accused Congress of giving bad legal advice. The Supreme Court has said public schools--because they act as agents of the government--may neither prevent nor promote student prayer.
___In lively debate on the House floor, proponents of the measure contended that critics' fears were misdirected.
___"This resolution encourages and does not require the schools of America to set aside a sufficient period of time for children in America to pray for or reflect on our nation," said Rep. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.
___The resolution does not carry the force of law but expresses the "sense of Congress" on the issue.
___Proponents also noted that the language of the resolution endorses not only prayer but also secular forms of "meditation" or "reflection."
___The Supreme Court recently upheld a Virginia law allowing a voluntary "moment of silence" in public schools. Earlier court decisions said moment-of-silence laws are permissible as long as they have a secular purpose and do not prescribe prayer or a particular kind of meditation.
___Opponents of the House resolution, however, said the measure goes beyond what the Supreme Court has ruled constitutional.
___"I am afraid the resolution is really about, once again, trying to introduce some form of content or prayer into the schools under the guise of the tragedies of Sept. 11 and the events that have occurred since then," said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif. "We should really not do that."
___While some supporters said the resolution did not unconstitutionally endorse Christian prayers, the measure's sponsor said religious convictions prompted him to author the resolution.
___"This nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles," Jones said.
___"Whether people like it or not, before Madalyn Murray (O'Hair), they prayed in the schools," he said in reference to the atheist activist who succeeded in getting school-mandated prayer and Bible reading in schools banned in the 1960s.
___"It is coming back, whether we like it or not," Jones said.

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