Mississippi’s local school boards may have to designate a “period of reflection” for students, if one proposed bill makes it to the desk of Gov. Tate Reeves this year.
Mississippi House Bill 488, sponsored by Rep. Jeffrey Hulum of the 119th House District, is a bill that states that the local school governing board shall designate a period of reflection at the opening of school on every school day in which nonsectarian, nonproselytizing student-initiated prayer must be allowed in silence or audible communication for those students desiring to voluntarily participate.
Continuing, the moment of reflection is not intended to be and shall not be conducted as a religious service or exercise but is considered an opportunity for a moment of reflection that does not conflict with the authority granted under Sections 37-13-4 and 37-13-4.1.
There is local support for the bill.
“I am in support of voluntarily-based prayer in school. I think prayer is something everyone needs, if one believes in it,” Sunflower County Consolidated School District board member, Emma Golden said.
There is still controversy surrounding organized school prayer in the U.S.
Some believe that it is necessary to offer prayers in schools to reduce violence, drug abuse and other social ills that some say plague society in general, and schools in particular.
Even so, the entanglement of church and state remains the chief cornerstone to opposition of such legislation.
In a case from June 2000, Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school-sponsored prayer is unconstitutional, regardless of whether the prayer is led by students.
All proposed bills can be read at legislature.ms.gov.
