Thursday, March 14, 2013

Mississippi Passes School Prayer Bill


The Mississippi Legislature passed a bill allowing student-led prayer and religius clubs in public schools with a majority vote in both the Senate and the House. The State Senate passed the bill with an overwhelming majority vote of 50-1.

Senate Bill 2633 – also known as "The Mississippi Student Religious Liberties Act of 2013"– prohibits public schools in the state from discrimination due to student's expression of religious beliefs. The bill, which passed March 6, has been sent to Gov. Phil Bryant for his signature.

Representative Mark Formby (R-Pearl River) has introduced a school prayer bill every year since 2009. He shared with The Christian Post on Tuesday his reasoning for supporting such a bill, saying, "Legislators, especially those who claim to be Christian and that represent constituencies that are predominately Christian according to polling, should make proactive moves to stand in the gap. That's what I see this particular bill doing."

Formby, who is of the Baptist faith, went on to say, "I think that it is very obvious, any casual by-stander can tell that there is an attack on religion in general, especially on Christianity."

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the ACLU of Mississippi sent a letter in a separate matter to a local Mississippi school district in October demanding that there be an end "to its widespread practice of promoting religious beliefs to students, faculty and staff," according to an official document.

Read it all here.


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