California school districts are fighting a legal battle to keep their opening prayers, claiming that meetings are entirely permitted by invoking God.
Joel Oster, a lawyer for the Defender of faith and freedom, said the CBN News Chino Valley Unified School District has taken decisive legal action to challenge what it believes is an outdated injunction from the Ninth Circuit Court.
According to a press release, Oster and his team “submitted a motion to lift the injunction in pursuing years of American tradition, seeking to establish a policy that allows invitations before school board meetings.”
Oster explained the background to the incident.
“Around 10 years ago, a lawsuit was filed against Chino Valley, claiming that the practice of opening a school board meeting with prayer violated the establishment clause and that the Ninth Circuit agreed, violated the injunction and was based on an injunction against what is called the Lemon Test,” he said.
He continued, “The Supreme Court has now overturned the Lemon Test and said it is not a good law. It does not respect how the establishment clause should be enforced (and interpreted).” ”
Based on Kennedy’s Supreme Court victory in the Supreme Court in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, Oster argued that Chino Valley should go to court to push back the injunction for prayer and “put aside” in light of the lemon test being thrown.
The lawyer explained why he believes he is entirely permitted to start a school board meeting in prayer.
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“The prayers before the school board meeting are what happened in the history of our country even before the constitution was drafted,” he said. “And prayer has been used for centuries to start deliberative groups. As long as there was Congress, there was Congress prayer.”
Ultimately, Oster said it was inappropriate to tell people of religion that they are “not welcome in society.” Critics are what can be seen as the tone and tenor of public debates about prayer in public squares. He also said that there can be something positive and helpful in holding meetings with invitations.
“Whenever you hold a deliberation session with prayer, it just helps to bring about severity,” Oster said. “It helps bring wisdom to the event and helps people concentrate on the task at hand. That’s why the Supreme Court said prayers are permitted and that it is the constitution to hold deliberative body sessions.”
Oster pointed out that many other government meetings, including town councils, may also have children or be involved in those who may argue that the school board is different from other government gatherings to address issues affecting children.
He said there was virtually no difference and that the Supreme Court had determined that there was no problem holding prayers at these venues. With that in mind, the opportunity to pray is open to all faiths, and “cannot be abused to abuse or advance only one faith.”
“But that’s not what’s going on here, nor is it typical,” he said.
Oster said Chino Valley was speaking up and rejecting cower, but he realized that some school districts would return from such a fight. Legal costs alone are deterrent to such battles.
Anyway, he believes that Chino Valley will win, and the court believes that the court will see that prayers are not violating the constitution.
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