Kelly Coghlan: Prayer in Texas schools is not illegal
The Dallas Morning News carries this commentary by attorney, Kelly Coghlan. He begins:
Today, on the National Day of Prayer, will children in Texas public schools hear a prayer? Maybe. Will it be legal? Yes, if the school follows the Constitution and Texas Schoolchildren’s Religious Liberties Act.
Most believe the Supreme Court outlawed all school prayer. It didn’t. It outlawed government prayer. Students are not government.
The heart of the new Texas law is its first sentence: “A school district shall treat a student’s voluntary expression of a religious viewpoint, if any, on an otherwise permissible subject in the same manner the district treats a student’s voluntary expression of a secular or other viewpoint on an otherwise permissible subject and may not discriminate against the student based on a religious viewpoint expressed by the student on an otherwise permissible subject.”