New Bill Would Allow Public High School Coaches to Pray With Students in Georgia

By Samuel Smith
Christian Post

A lawmaker in Georgia has introduced legislation that would effectively allow high school football coaches and other public school officials in the state who want to participate in a student-led and initiated prayer to do so.

After headlines were made last year when East Coweta High School football coach John Small was told by the school district that he could not engage in prayer with his team before games, State Sen. Michael Williams introduced Senate Bill 361 on Tuesday in an attempt to give Small and other coaches such a right.

The bill, titled the "Coach Small Religious Protection Act," would take effect in the 2018-2019 school year and would amend state law relating to elementary and secondary education to provide "freedom of religious expression by faculty and employees of public schools while fulfilling the duties of their jobs."

"While performing their assigned job duties, school employees are required to maintain a position of neutrality toward religion; however, when interacting with other school employees or when the context makes clear that the employee is not speaking on behalf of the school, school employees are entitled to robust protections for their religious expression," the bill states.

The bill states that during "contract" time, school employees, faculty and other types of volunteers affiliated with the school are permitted to "participate in voluntary student-initiated, student-led prayer, such as prayer before a sporting event, when invited to do so by the students, provided that the participation is in the faculty's or employee's personal capacity and not as a representative of the school."

The bill would also protect teachers' rights to wear religious clothing, jewelry or symbols and engage in religious discussions and share religious materials with other faculty.

The bill comes after the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a complaint with Coweta County School System last fall about how Coach Small was seen before a football game participating in a team prayer with his head bowed.

The FFRF complaint led to the school district issuing a district-wide guidance on prayer that explained clearly that coaches can't "join hands, bow their heads, take a knee or commit another act that otherwise manifests approval with the students' religious exercise" when it can be perceived to display government endorsement of religion.

"Public schools are being threatened by out-of-state special interest groups who demand that schools adopt inaccurate interpretations of the First Amendment that unlawfully restrict the freedom of students, teachers, and other public school employees to engage in religious expression or otherwise exercise their freedom of religion, leading to a stifling of constitutional rights," the legislation adds.

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