The Freedom From Religion Foundation’s efforts persuaded Maryland’s Calvert County Public Schools to remove a box for religious prayers from one of its schools.
A concerned community member informed the state/church watchdog that Patuxent High School had a prayer box in the front office. The box had the verse from Matthew 11:28 written on top, along with a Latin cross.
FFRF took action to align the district with the Constitution.
“The district has a duty to ensure that its teachers and administrators are not using their positions to promote their personal religious beliefs to students,” FFRF Patrick O’Reiley Fellow Charlotte R. Gude wrote to the district.
FFRF pointed out that public schools may not show favoritism toward or coerce belief or participation in religion. Parents, not public school staff, have the constitutional right to guide their children’s religious or nonreligious upbringing. Teachers and administrators may not encourage students to pray. By having an official, school-sponsored prayer box, Patuxent High School, and thus the district, abridged that duty and needlessly marginalized those students and community members among the 38 percent of Americans who are non-Christian, including the 43 percent of Generation Z that is nonreligious.
FFRF is happy to report that the district did the right thing. Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome emailed FFRF after receiving the letter to confirm that the prayer box has been removed.
Whenever a school district makes the mistake of proselytizing students, FFRF will be sure to stand up for students’ right to freedom of conscience.
“Public high schools are not churches where ‘prayer boxes’ belong,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Our public schools exist to educate, not to indoctrinate in religion or to promote religious rituals such as prayer. We’re glad this school has taken corrective action to make it an inclusive and welcoming place for all students, regardless of their views on religion.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 41,000 members across the country, including more than 800 members in Maryland. FFRF’s purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
