Trump’s ‘school prayer’ promise has an ulterior motive

In addition to President-elect Donald Trump’s promise that he will “the closure of the Ministry of Education”, one of the most troubling points of his education platform is his promise to “support to bring prayer back to our schools.” How could he bring back something that never left? “As long as there are math tests“There will be prayers in schools,” said the late James Dunn of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.

Students’ freedom to pray is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and contrary to what Trump’s pledge suggests, students are allowed to gather and pray together on school grounds. The government’s neutrality towards religion gives students the freedom to pray or not pray, however they wish, without fear or favor.

What is not allowed is government-sponsored prayer. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1962 that government-sponsored prayers in public schools violate the First Amendment. Is that the kind of compelling prayer Trump wants to “bring back”? Schools that let students pray? Trump’s school prayer show is not about the freedom for students to pray – or not to pray – as their conscience dictates, but about the use of government power to force students to pray a certain way.

This week, in what could be a warning sign for Trump, a federal court cited a 1980 Supreme Court case and said Louisiana cannot enforce its new law. demanding that the Ten Commandments be placed in every classroom at every public school in the state. The state promises to appeal, but the Supreme Court, conservative as it is, has not (yet) given the green light to completely dismantle the healthy boundaries between religion and government. The locks have not (yet) been opened. The kind of school prayer that Trump and his allies support is still unconstitutional.

The fact that Trump appears to be pushing for more coercive school prayer anyway is part of his broader campaign to keep his supporters perpetually aggrieved.

To reiterate, there is currently nothing that prohibits students in schools from praying individually or collectively. And yet you often hear the complaint from conservative Christians about how terrible it is that prayer has been taken out of schools. Imagine if the Supreme Court struck down a new law or policy that would force students to pray in school. That would inevitably reinforce the idea that prayer has been taken out of schools and increase the discontent fueling Trump’s political support.

Trump made one prayer pressure at school in his first term, so what’s different now? The far-right religious legal movement sees a major opportunity for its case in light of a 2022 Supreme Court ruling, Kennedy v. Bremerton, involving a college football coach who had prayed with students at the 50-yard line. Writing the opinion for a 6-3 court, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the coach “quietly offered his prayers while his students were otherwise occupied” and made no ruling on his actions at center field.

According to Gorsuch’s statement of facts, the Kennedy case did not greenlight coercive, government-sponsored school prayer. Biden’s Department of Education issued updated guidance for prayer in public schools after that case, strengthening the long-standing understanding of the Constitution: “Teachers, school administrators, and other school personnel shall not encourage or discourage private prayer or other religious activities.”

Yet there has been one since widespread push for increased prayer and religious observance in public schools throughout the country. In addition to Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida have passed laws allowing “school chaplains” in public schools.

“Groups that monitor church-state issues say nationwide efforts to fund and strengthen religion — and more specifically a certain brand of Christianity — are more abundant and aggressive than they have been in years.” The Washington Post reported. Supporters of more government-sponsored prayers “see the Supreme Court righting the American ship after a half-century of unjust separation of church and state.”

These efforts undermine their alleged cause of religious freedom. Targeting public schools is about stoking discontent among his political base and blaming problems in schools on the lack of government-mandated prayers. It is a tactic to sow division and stoke anger.

Forcing our nation’s students to pray in whatever manner Trump sees fit will do nothing but increase polarization. Obeying the government’s chosen prayer does not unite us. As Americans, we are united by the freedom to pray, worship, and believe however we choose.