The Freedom From Religion Foundation stands firmly behind a courageous North Carolina school board member and a local teacher opposing a troubling proposal to introduce Christian prayer into Cabarrus County Board of Education meetings.
At its April 14 meeting, the board began discussions, initiated by board member Melanie Freeman, on whether to start praying at the start of each official meeting. This proposal has drawn criticism from community members, including one local public school teacher who reached out to FFRF out of concern for the religious neutrality of their school system.
FFRF praises board member Pam Escobar for offering a powerful and principled objection during the meeting.
“Frankly, we are not in the business of faith or religion. That’s not what we do,” Escobar told her colleagues. “I don’t know why you need prayer to take this job seriously. … How does this benefit kids?”
Despite Escobar’s warning, the board voted 5-2 to draft a prayer policy, ignoring legal precedent and the rights of nonreligious and non-Christian community members.
The teacher who reported the issue told FFRF that this push to inject religion into public education left them feeling “angry and saddened,” adding: “I don’t want to see a job that I love so much turn into a church.”
In response, FFRF sent the board a legal complaint letter against the unconstitutional and exclusionary proposal. The letter cites decades of Supreme Court precedent barring school-sponsored prayer and notes that public school board meetings are not exempt from these protections.
If the board formally decides to open meetings with an invocation or prayer, it will subject the district to unnecessary liability and potential financial strain. When FFRF secured a court order in its Chino Valley case against school board prayer, for example, the court ordered the district to pay more than $200,000 in the plaintiffs’ attorney fees and costs. After appeal, the court ordered the district to pay an additional $75,000 for plaintiffs’ attorney fees and costs associated with the appeal for a total of more than a quarter million dollars.
“We’re proud to support this teacher and brave board member Pam Escobar for standing up for the rights of all students, parents and staff — regardless of religion or lack thereof,” says FFRF Legal Counsel Chris Line. “Public schools are not churches, and school board meetings are no place for religious rituals, which invariably exclude and divide.”
FFRF urges the board to abandon this divisive proposal and instead focus on policies that benefit all students.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 42,000 members and several chapters nationwide, including more than 1,000 members and a chapter in North Carolina. 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.
Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash
