School Board Still Promoting Religion

Should school boards be involved with promoting particular religious views, or are they there to deal with educational issues? One might be forgiven if they chose the latter option, but in Manatee County, Florida, school board members seem to think that the former optionis correct.

Manatee County's school board prayers were questioned last year and they agreed to stop using the Lord's Prayer, despite really wanting to continue with the tradition of Christian-only prayers. According to News Coast, that tradition has continued after all:

The suit, filed by a Jewish couple from Bradenton, asserts that the board has failed to uphold a compromise policy adopted this summer that calls for meetings to begin with nonsectarian invocations. ... Officials insist they're being short-changed funding from the state for classroom needs, yet they're able to find money for a costly lawsuit over an issue that has more to do with the personal religious beliefs of board members than it does with educating children. ... [S]ome board supporters suggest the plaintiffs should leave Manatee if they don't like the prayer policy.

So, if you don't like the official religion of an area, you are invited to just go somewhere else. I don't live there and am not familiar with how their system works, so I'm curious about what basis is used for saying that when a person is elected to the school board they are also vested with religious powers and duties. I've never lived in a place where "school board member" was synonymous with "official government minister." I wonder what it's like?

Read More:

• Secularism 101
• Separation of Church and State 101
• Religion in Public Schools
• School Prayer
• Government Chaplains