Texas students will be allowed to pray at the beginning of the school day, thanks to a federal judge who ruled in favor of the state's moment-of-silence law. Atheists had argued that silent, private and voluntary prayer in school violates the U.S. Constitution.
Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz said prayer in school is voluntary — and constitutional.
“It is perfectly consistent with the U.S. Constitution to protect prayer as a basic religious liberty,” he said.
The decision is encouraging to Andy Norman, who is defending a similar law in Illinois.
“They’re trying to get it declared unconstitutional," he said. "We’ve had a couple of successes in Virginia and Georgia, with statutes that are almost identical to Illinois’ law.”
Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel of the Liberty Legal Institute in Texas, said atheists likely will continue to bang their heads against the judicial wall.
“The idea that somebody is so intolerant that they cannot stand the idea that some other citizen, some other kid, might use the time to pray silently," he said, "to me that’s the kind of intolerance I can’t even understand.”
