Trump: Department of Education will protect prayer in schools

By Esther Wickham
The Center Square

The U.S. Department of Education will issue new guidance on prayer in public schools, according to President Donald Trump in his speech at the Bible Museum this week.  

The hearing at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., was about "Religious Liberty in Public Education." The Justice Department’s Religious Liberty Commission was established by Trump, “highlighting current threats to religious liberty, and developing strategies to preserve and enhance protections for future generations.” 

During Trump’s speech, he announced that the Education Department would soon issue guidance on protecting the right of prayer in public schools. 

“I am pleased to announce this morning that the Department of Education will soon issue new guidance protecting the right to prayer in our public schools, and it's total protection,”  Trump said. 

The Department of Education told the Center Square that it plans to support the president and promote religious freedom across America’s schools. 

“Free exercise of religion is a founding principle and a constitutionally protected right afforded to all citizens of our great nation,” Department of Education Press Secretary Savannah Newhouse told The Center Square. “The Department of Education looks forward to supporting President Trump's vision to promote religious liberty in our schools across the country.”

The department did not detail what the guidance would entail. 

While freedom of religion is not restricted in schools, in 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled school-sponsored prayer in public schools unconstitutional under the First Amendment and its clause forbidding the U.S. government from establishing a religion.

In his first term, Trump issued guidance on protecting prayer in public schools, stating that students can read religious texts or pray during recess and other non-instructional periods, organize prayer groups, and express their religious beliefs in their assignments.

Since stepping into office for a second term, Trump has made it a priority to restore religious liberty and “bring back prayer” to public schools. 

“We have to bring back religion in America, bring it back stronger than ever before as our country grows stronger and stronger,” Trump said. “To have a great nation, you have to have religion.”

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