The Mississippi House passed a bill Wednesday that would allow prayer during school, adding Mississippi to a list of states challenging the Supreme Court edict that church and state remain separate.
House Bill 1310 would mandate in state law that public schools provide students and employees with time to pray or read religious text during the school day.
State law already says that students “may” pray at any time, but the activity isn’t explicitly protected. Rep. Jansen Owen, a Republican from Poplarville, said the House bill is intended to provide an organized structure for accommodation, which is not currently in place, and stressed that prayer would not replace any learning time.
While public schools have been prohibited from sponsoring prayer since a 1962 Supreme Court ruling, lawmakers in a handful of states, including Tennessee and Texas, have passed or are considering legislation similar to House Bill 1310. It aims to return prayer to schools — with apparent support from the Trump administration. Recent guidance from the U.S. Department of Education allows teachers to pray with students.
The bill garnered 45 minutes of debate on Wednesday from House Democrats, who said that people in public schools have the right to freedom from prayer.
“If my child wants to sit at her desk and say a silent prayer, who is prohibiting that?” asked Rep. Daryl Porter, a Democrat from Summit.
“They may not want to say a silent prayer,” Owen replied “They may want to get together with their fellow believers in Christ and pray together.”
The bill would also provide an “opt-in” mechanism. For students to be able to participate in prayer, parents must request it. And participating students would do so separate from non-participating students.
Rep. Robert Johnson III, the Natchez-based leader of the House Democratic Caucus, said he was concerned about lawsuits over the bill.
“All of the people who have asked questions about this bill … just like me, we all love the Lord,” he said. “We believe in prayer, we believe in working together, we believe in respecting everybody’s right to prayer and everybody’s right to fellowship and congregate. But what we are very cognizant of is that we live in a state that our resources are very limited.
“If we constantly find ways to violate the Constitution and invite litigation, we’re gonna be spending more money on lawyers than we spend on anybody else.”
The bill passed the House 80-35 and now heads to the Senate.
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