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. READ MORE
