The Trump Administration has taken recent steps to clarify and protect students’ rights to pray in public schools. This move represents more than policy: it is a reaffirmation of what makes America unique. Last month, President Trump announced the Department of Education will issue guidance aimed at protecting the right to prayer in public schools, citing concern that students have in many cases been punished for expressing their faith.
This new guidance is essential not only from a legal standpoint, but from a moral and cultural one. For decades, courts have distinguished between school‐sponsored prayer and voluntary, student‐initiated prayer or religious expression, but purposeful ambiguity and inconsistent enforcement has often marginalized or silenced Christian students.
This new guidance promises to provide consistency, clearly restating what is already allowed under the law and the Constitution. Not only would this help ensure that Christian students do not have to hide their beliefs or be punished simply for exercising their constitutional rights, it will greenlight many states that are moving ahead with the reinstatement of prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Bible itself in public school settings.
This is yet another move from the Trump Administration signaling that Christian faith is not a relic of America’s past, but an ongoing, constitutionally protected dimension of student life. If we are to foster good citizens, the lessons taught cannot be reading, writing, and arithmetic alone. Character, humility, and a sense of moral responsibility are requirements for our American community.
In a time of increasing political and cultural turmoil, the free expression of Christianity and fighting the left’s anti-Christian bias is absolutely necessary. Freedom of religion is not optional or symbolic—it is core to the United States of America. Especially now, as younger generations are turning away from the godless liberalism and toward traditional Christian faith, schools must be places that allow these communities to foster. The Trump Education Department’s new guidance is a welcome restoration of this freedom.
Rest assured, there are many opportunities ahead to boldly change education in America — and we’re going to talk about it at Eagle Council 54 in St. Louis next month! To find out about our program and how you can register to be a part of it, visit PhyllisSchlafly.com – again that’s Phyllis Schlafly.com. We need conservative leaders who are not just dedicated to the faith and principles of our founders, but who are grassroots activists capable of fighting these battles at the federal, state, and local level. Visit PhyllisSchlafly.com and join us next time for the Phyllis Schlafly Report.
This post originally appeared at https://phyllisschlafly.com/family/education/trump-education-department-promotes-prayer-in-schools/
Phyllis Schlafly