Alabama's Alexandria High School ends prayers over PA system

This report was written by Laura Johnson of The Anniston Star and distributed via The Associated Press.

ALEXANDRIA, Ala. -- The Christian influence at Alexandria High School is visible, but as of this week it's a little less overt.

There, brightly colored flyers printed with Bible verses hang on the walls, weekly Bible studies are held before class begins and, until recently, prayers were spoken over the school's intercom system. But that regular practice stopped this week when a student questioned the legality of the practice.

"Every day in the morning we would have student-led prayer over the PA system and I looked this up. It's illegal," the student said. "It wasn't just me; there were a bunch of other students who wanted it stopped."

He said he demanded it stop in a voicemail sent to Superintendent Judy Stiefel. He also contacted the American Civil Liberties Union by e-mail and by hand-written letter to complain about the issue.

The student requested he not be named in this story because he expected his classmates would not react well to his actions.

In response to the complaint Stiefel sent out an e-mail earlier this week to every school in the system. She said Wednesday the e-mail "reminded them of the law." The morning prayers at Alexandria High stopped Tuesday.

Alexandria Principal Ronald Chambless declined to comment for this story.

Supreme Court decisions have set precedents prohibiting school-sponsored religious activity, based on the First Amendment, which states Congress may make no law "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

"The U.S. Supreme Court has made it pretty clear that school officials cannot sponsor prayers," said Bryan Fair, a University of Alabama law professor. "They control the PA system; the student doesn't control the PA system. That is going to be considered government speech rather than private speech."

However, the law does not prohibit all prayer. Private prayer and voluntary student prayer is permissible by the law and is allowed at Calhoun County Schools, according to school board attorney Robin Andrews.

"Each student is free to pray individually or with other students during non-instructional time, during lunch, before or after school; even during class, providing it's private and doesn't interfere with instruction," Andrews said.

Allison Neal, legal director of the Alabama chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said these issues are common in the state and that they usually are resolved without taking any legal action. Neal said that her group normally handles such complaints by talking with school superintendents, but Stiefel said Wednesday the ACLU had not contacted her about the issue.

"I have only had one student to comment about this," Stiefel said. "It has not been a major problem."

The student said he was motivated to take action because he didn't think it was fair for the student body, which he described as overwhelmingly "fundamentally Christian" to subject all students to Christian prayers and Bible verses.

"What bothered me about it is that it's illegal and I don't want the school breaking the law like that," the student said. "I want to stand up for fairness. I'm a person that embraces all religion and I love everyone."

Category:

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• Alexandria
• high
• school
• prayer
• ACLU

[oKeMoxHeArTzo]

Respond to this video... i attend alexandria high (8th grader)...yea 1 tyme my friendz wer tlkn about christianity n our teacher said we cudnt tlk about religion...we luked at her crazy...i thought she wuz kuukuu but now i kno y she said it...

[AlabamaFreethought]

@oKeMoxHeArTzo Thank for your watching and commenting!

[yotakidd]

i just graduated from alexandria the 2010 school year. and that day we were told we couldnt have prayer over the intercom every single student was in the hallway in groups having a little bible service to themselves. so im sure whoever it was that complained got exactly the opposite of what they wanted anyway.

[AlabamaFreethought]

@yotakidd Thanks for commenting. Being a class of 74 grad from Anniston High School (and a believer back then), I probably would have had the same reaction.

[Bourtini]

You can pray at home, you can read a fairy tale book at home, why do people feel the need to subject everyone to their delusion? If they can talk to non-existent creatures over a PA system, I'd like to talk to the non-existent creatures that they don't like over the PA system.

[aaqaaqaaqaaqaaqaaqaa]

go to private school if you want to pray!

[gillamfarms]

@evolvingdarwin Haha Nice,have you been to Alabama , I live one block from the school . You just make Atheists look uneducated and stereotypical.

[MarchaL03]

Yeah I remember this. Everybody was pissed off about this including me. All because of one atheist. The teachers were mad as well. I was in 8th then. The school shouldn't have to stop prayer just because of one person.

[sweetsweatyfeet]

Schools are agents of the state and as such have no right to endorse, promote or teach any one religious faith. To do so dismisses all other beliefs (or lack of belief) by implication. Religion is a private, not a public matter and it's not the business of the state or it's public institutions.

Government must remain neutral and impartial on matters of religious faith in order to protect everyones freedom of and from belief. I don't know why people refuse to understand this.

[alabamarocks21]

@evolvingdarwin hey D.A. not everyone in Alabama is a redneck its just like everywhere else in the world