Texas Legislature approves bill requiring daily prayer, Bible reading in public schools

*This is reported by the Dallas Voice.

The Texas House of Representatives today (Friday, May 23) passed Senate Bill 11 mandating a daily period set aside in Texas public schools for prayer and reading the Bible. Having passed both chambers of the Texas Legislature, the measure is now headed to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for his signature.

Texas Freedom Network Political Director Rocío Fierro-Pérez criticized the vote in a written statement, warning that the bill “allows politicians to impose their preferred religion on millions of Texas families,” and noting that it is “a blatant violation of the First Amendment and an escalation in the ongoing effort to turn public schools into tools of government-endorsed religion.

“Coercing students into state-sanctioned prayer disrespects the religious and nonreligious beliefs of families across our state,” she said.

Fierro Pérez added, “This bill undermines parental rights and places public educators in the impossible position of enforcing deeply personal and spiritual practices. We are outraged that lawmakers are wasting time serving their self-interests while ignoring urgent problems in our schools.

“Texas needs leaders who fight for the freedom of all families, not just those who share their religious views. Texans deserve leadership that defends liberty, not legislation that tramples it.”

SB 11 will, no doubt, face legal challenge, and established precedent would seem to be against it.

In its landmark 1962 decision Engel v. Vitale, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory, state-sponsored prayer in public schools violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, therefore public schools cannot require or sponsor religious activities, even if participation is voluntary. The following year, in Abington School District v. Schempp, SCOTUS ruled that school-sponsored Bible reading before class is unconstitutional.