President Donald J. Trump reportedly said on Monday that his administration will take action to protect the rights of students to pray in public schools, casting the move as a correction to decades of hostility toward faith in the classroom.
Speaking at the Museum of the Bible during the second official hearing of the Religious Liberty Commission, Mr. Trump said too many schools have replaced the nation’s religious traditions with what he described as “anti-religious propaganda.”
“For most of our country’s history, the Bible was found in every classroom in the nation, yet in many schools, today’s students are instead indoctrinated with anti-religious propaganda and some are even punished for their religious beliefs,” the president said.
He highlighted the story of Hannah Allen, a Texas student who was reprimanded for joining classmates at lunch to pray for a friend who had been injured. “To support students like Hannah, I’m pleased to announce this morning that the Department of Education will soon issue new guidance protecting the right to prayer in our public schools,” Mr. Trump said.
While details of the new guidelines remain unclear, the announcement follows a Supreme Court ruling last year in favor of a Washington State high school football coach who was dismissed for leading voluntary postgame prayers.
The Court concluded the school district violated the coach’s rights, underscoring what conservatives view as a broader shift back toward religious freedom in public life.
The prayer initiative is one part of a wider campaign. On Monday, the administration also unveiled “America Prays,” an effort encouraging citizens to gather weekly with groups of ten or more to pray for the country.
Mr. Trump also used the hearing to address what he described as rising threats to Christians. He referenced last month’s attack at a Catholic school in Minnesota carried out by a transgender-identifying male. “Two weeks ago, in Minneapolis, a demonic killer shot 21 people and murdered the two precious children at a Catholic school,” the president said. “Our hearts are shattered for the families of those beautiful children.”
Vowing accountability, he declared: “The Trump administration will have no tolerance for terrorism or political violence, and that includes hate crimes against Christians, Jews, or anybody else.”
The Religious Liberty Commission itself was established in May by executive order. The body has been tasked with producing a comprehensive report on the foundations of religious freedom in America and identifying leading threats to those freedoms today.
For Mr. Trump, the commission and the new prayer protections are part of a broader effort to cast his administration as the defender of religious rights against what conservatives describe as years of government hostility toward faith.
Supporters say such measures restore balance after generations in which secular policies sidelined religious expression in public spaces.
Critics have long argued that official expressions of faith in public schools risk violating the separation of church and state.
But Mr. Trump has emphasized that the Constitution protects free exercise, not freedom from religion. His remarks Monday reflected that view, placing prayer in schools alongside national security as a priority of his second term.
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