[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 21673]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  PRAYER IMPORTANT PART OF OUR SOCIETY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Minnesota (Mrs. Bachmann) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Mr. Speaker, prayer has been an important part of our 
country since the founding of our great Nation, and attempts to take 
prayer away from the American people are attempts to take away the 
essential freedoms that have been guaranteed to every American since 
the beginning of our United States Constitution.
  I thank Mr. Forbes for bringing this to the attention of this body, 
and I share his shock, I share his dismay that criminal charges were 
brought on behalf of Mrs. Winkler, Mr. Lay and Mr. Freeman for the 
simple act of engaging in prayer.
  As the court explained in Santa Fe, not all religious speech that 
occurs in public schools or at school-sponsored events is speech 
attributable to government. There were no students present at either 
event.
  Additionally, the court held the proposition that schools do not 
endorse everything they fail to sensor is not complicated. The Supreme 
Court held that ``there is a crucial difference between government 
speech endorsing religion, which the establishment clause forbids, and 
private speech endorsing religion, which the free speech and free 
exercise clauses protect.''
  In no way were these individuals trying to associate the school with 
prayer. They were offering the prayer, one at a privately funded event, 
the other at an event with private donors. The court held that 
``private religious speech, far from being a First Amendment orphan, is 
as fully protected under the free speech clause as secular private 
expression.''
  Teachers and administrators, when they act in their official 
capacity, may not encourage or discourage or participate in prayer with 
students. However, teachers may take part in religious activities 
before or after school or during lunch since the context makes clear 
they are not acting in an official capacity. Although schools may not 
direct or endorse religious activities, students do not shed their 
constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the 
schoolhouse gate.
  Mr. Speaker, the problem is that this displays a trend and a tendency 
that we are seeing where groups like the ACLU strike at one school 
district after another, one public display of religious expression 
after another, until they have reached their ultimate goal, which is to 
purge the marketplace of ideas of any semblance of religious 
expression. At that point, Mr. Speaker, we will have turned the First 
Amendment on its head, and the Founders in turn will be rolling in 
their graves.

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