Due to the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s efforts, Burnet Consolidated ISD will no longer promote a prayer marathon event before the start of the fall semester.
A concerned complainant reported that the district was encouraging community members to “pray for the first day” of classes by praying for a specific group of people each day from July 26 to the first day of classes on August 16. The district promoted the daily prayers in a post on its official Facebook page.
The state/church watchdog wrote to district Superintendent Keith McBurnett requesting that the district cease the promotion of prayer and remove the post.
“By promoting prayer, the district sends an official message that excludes all nonreligious district students and community members,” FFRF Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Sammi Lawrence wrote.
It is well settled that public schools may not show favoritism toward or coerce belief or participation in any religion. Here, the district was displaying clear favoritism toward religion over nonreligion by promoting and encouraging prayer. This action excludes the almost 30 percent of the adult population today who are nonreligious. More specifically, almost half of Generation Z (the demographic of school attendees) identify as religiously unaffiliated.
McBurnett emailed FFRF back: “The Facebook post has been removed, and the district will refrain from posting anything similar in the future.”
FFRF is pleased to see a school district willing to respect the First Amendment.
“We’re glad that school officials are taking action to uphold constitutional neutrality,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “A school district does not need to pray for their students and staff. It needs to focus instead on providing a secular education free from religious indoctrination.”
You can read FFRF’s full letter here.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with more than 40,000 members and several chapters across the country, including over 1,700 members and a chapter in Texas. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
