HB96 requires each local school district to have a “moment of silence or reflection” at the start of every school day, ensuring that all students may “pray” without distraction.
The House passed HB96 on January 31, 2024, by a vote of 79 to 17. We have assigned pluses to the yeas because this bill supports the religious liberty of students, including their right to pray in school. Prior to the U.S. Supreme Court’s erroneous decision in Engel v. Vitale in 1962 (a case in which the Court failed to cite even a single precedent to justify its opinion), prayer in schools had been not just constitutionally protected, but a long-standing tradition and common practice. In fact, Kentucky law still authorizes the recitation of the “Lord’s prayer” in elementary schools as a reminder that it “is the prayer our pilgrim fathers recited.” The U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment clearly says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” As a restriction addressed exclusively to “Congress,” it limits only the federal government, not the States. Since 1792, the Kentucky Constitution has consistently declared that “all men” have “the right of worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of their consciences,” and that “no human authority shall, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience.”