FFRF has stopped a South Carolina public school district from hosting prayer services on school grounds. Clinton High School and Clinton Middle School in the Laurens County School District recently hosted a week-long event titled, “40th Annual Community Prayer Breakfast.” The religious programming at these breakfasts, which took place before school, involved numerous outside adult speakers and attendees.
The Laurens County School District appears to have been directly involved in putting on these religious events. On May 17, FFRF Senior Council Patrick Elliott wrote to Superintendent David O’Shields to request that the district refrain from coordinating or permitting similar community-wide religious programs during the school day.
On July 30, O’Shields responded to FFRF saying, “It was decided to move the prayer breakfast off school grounds to a local church in order to maintain separation of church and state.”
