The U.S. Department of Education has issued updated guidance on prayer and other religious expressions in public schools.
The guidance follows last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision Kennedy vs. Bremerton, which held that a public school district could not stop a football coach from praying on the 50-yard line after games. The court ruled that such prayer was a personal religious observance and that preventing someone from engaging in such a practice violated the First Amendment’s protections for free speech and the free exercise of religion.
The new guidance says “Teachers, school administrators, and other school employees may not encourage or discourage private prayer or other religious activity.”
