Freedom From Religion Foundation once again asks the Dorchester School District Two School Board to stop opening meetings with prayer. In fact, the group wants all S.C. institutions to stop school board prayer before each meeting.
Following notification that school board meetings and other school-sponsored events began with prayer in 2021, FFRF contacted the district. The board agendas confirmed that each meeting began with an “invocation” led by members of the board. The prayers reportedly were always Christian. When the state/church watchdog contacted the district, it was informed that concerns regarding school-sponsored prayer had been addressed in accordance with state and federal law.
A community member reported that the board resumed opening meetings in 2022 with a Christian prayer led by board members. Agendas confirm that every meeting has opened this way since September.
The FFRF once again calls for an immediate end to this practice.
Staff Attorney Chris Line writes, “We request that the board cease including prayer at its meetings in order to protect students, their parents, and the local community.“
Prayers offered at school-sponsored events have consistently been struck down by the Supreme Court, which cites governmental favoritism towards religion as violating the Establishment Clause.
Similar rulings have been made by other courts. The most recent judgment against school board prayer came from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in FFRF v. Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education. The losing school district had to pay FFRF more than $200,000 in costs and attorneys fees.
There is a right and a reason for students and parents to attend school board meetings. It is coercive, insensitive and intimidating to force nonreligious citizens to choose between demonstrating their nonbelief by refusing to participate in the prayer or displaying deference toward a religious sentiment in which they do not believe but which their school board members clearly do.
In addition to praying privately, board members should not lend their power and prestige to religion or coerce attendees into participating in religious activities. However, the board should refrain from lending its power and prestige to religion. Including prayer at board meetings needlessly excludes those who are among the 37 percent of Americans who are not Christians, including the 49 percent of Generation Z who are religiously unaffiliated.
Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF Co-President, says the school board is responsible for overseeing a secular public school system that is welcoming to all students and parents, regardless of religion or none at all. Instead of engaging in exclusionary practices, school bodies should strive to be inclusive.
With over 40,000 members across the country, the Freedom From Religion Foundation includes hundreds in South Carolina. The purpose of our organization is to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, as well as to educate the public regarding nontheism.