Group reports prayer protests as school year begins

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As schools open their doors across the country this fall, a national group that tracks church/state issues said Friday that it had received one dozen reports of individuals praying aloud at rallies or football games, apparent protests of a recent Supreme Court decision.

Rob Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, described most of these incidents as informal protests in which at least one individual simply prayed out loud. He knew of only one organized protest -- in South Carolina -- that was organized by activists and sanctioned by school officials to specifically defy the court decision.

MESSAGE BOARD Church and state

The actions come after a Supreme Court decision in June that called unconstitutional a Texas school district's policy of allowing high school students to lead prayers over a loudspeaker before football games.

The high court's ruling resulted from a 1995 federal lawsuit in which the Santa Fe, Texas, Independent School District was accused of sponsoring religious activities on public campuses and humiliating at least one Mormon student over religious issues.

In Santa Fe Friday night, about two dozen people in two groups stood up in the stands at the local high school and recited the Lord's Prayer as the football game began. CNN's Charles Zewe said their voices were drowned out by the 2,000-strong crowd's cheers for the kickoff.

Boston, whose group advocates a strict separation of church and state, said calls had come into his Washington office throughout the past week reporting incidents of praying aloud.

"We've gotten reports of quite a lot of it, mostly in the South," he said.

Many conservative Christians are unhappy with the Supreme Court ruling, stating it infringes on their constitutional right to practice their faith.

In Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina -- roughly 30 miles southeast of Columbia -- a high school senior read a prayer over the public address system last Friday, a move that was approved by the local school board earlier.

Boston said his group would monitor any formal protests this fall.

"In cases of outright defiance, there will be lawsuits," he said, but he predicted that most school districts would comply with the court ruling.

"I think most school superintendents are smart enough not to do it," he said of prayer protests. "They'll end up in court and have huge legal fees when they lose."

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