By Trey Dellinger for TULSA TODAY
The Oklahoma House sent House Bill 3240 to the Senate with a more than two-thirds vote. This bill would give public school students a designated time for voluntary prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious texts. The bill ensures parents must consent to their child’s participation, and that religious observances cannot be conducted in the presence or hearing of non-consenting students.
This thoughtfully designed, constitutional bill is sorely needed.
Historically, public school religious practices coexisted in harmony with the First Amendment. Public school prayer, Bible reading and religious observances were commonplace. Language and even math textbooks included religious themes.
All that changed when, more than 170 years after the founding, the United States Supreme Court decided two cases widely interpreted as banning religion in public school: Engel v. Vitale (1962)and School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania v. Schempp (1963), collectively known as the “School Prayer Cases.”
