Just Do It

Last month, Angela Kilgore went to her local school board meeting in Suffolk, Virginia. After addressing the board members with her concerns, she asked to pray for them and area schools. But the board chairman cut her off, saying, “You can’t do that,” adding that prayers weren’t legally allowed.

When Kilgore and other members of the audience began reciting the Lord’s Prayer, the chairman suspended the meeting and ordered police officers to clear the room. 

The chairman’s reaction isn’t at all surprising. This hostility to prayer has been the norm since the left took prayer out of the schools decades ago. The fact that his response was to stifle her prayer as something illegal was a stark reminder that we have a lot of work to do to ensure religious liberty thrives in America. 

That’s why I revisited the Coach Kennedy case earlier this week. In that decision last year, the Supreme Court ruled that people can’t be prevented from praying in public. Anyone can go to public school board meetings and pray, and our schools certainly need a lot of prayer!

I hope what happened in Suffolk, Virginia, is a sign that the significance of the Coach Kennedy case is beginning to sink in at the grassroots. 

Here’s my advice for the next person who wants to pray at a public school board meeting: Don’t ask for permission. Just do it!