FFRF has made sure that public school employees in an Indiana school district will not continue to impose prayer during school gatherings.
Back in April, a school guard at the Rise Up Academy (the alternative high school in South Bend, Ind.) delivered a prayer at a school-wide assembly. The prayer included the following: “We thank you for being the alpha and omega, the beginning and end. I want you all to say, ‘Thank God! Thank God! Amen!'” The reference to alpha and omega is taken from the New Testament’s description of Jesus in several verses and shows the prayer to be specifically Christian.
“The Supreme Court has continually struck down formal school-led prayer in public schools,” FFRF Legal Fellow Ryan Jayne wrote to South Bend Community Schools Superintendent Carole Schmidt.
The South Bend school district took FFRF’s complaint seriously and launched an investigation.
“The South Bend Community School Corporation has a number of policies in place prohibiting religion in the classroom and in the curriculum,” the district’s counsel said in a recent phone message. “The issue in question was a spontaneous response by an employee, not part of our curriculum. It was not planned, and we were as surprised by it as anyone else. The issue has been addressed with that employee.”
