September 8th — President Donald Trump announced Monday at a Religious Liberty Commission meeting in Washington, D.C., that the Department of Education will issue new guidance protecting prayer in public schools.
Trump attended the meeting at the Museum of the Bible, which was founded by Steve Green of the Hobby Lobby Green family. Trump did not provide a specific timeline or information about the new directive.
“For most of our country’s history, the Bible was found in every classroom in the nation, yet in many schools today, students are indoctrinated with anti-religious propaganda,” according to the president.
Since the 1960s, the United States Supreme Court has issued a number of decisions prohibiting most prayers in public schools. In recent years, however, states have pushed to reintroduce religion into classrooms.
Louisiana became the first state to require a copy of the Ten Commandments to be posted in public classrooms in 2024, with Arkansas and Texas following suit this year.
The American Civil Liberties Union stated that it is fighting to protect the separation of church and state.
“When states impose religious doctrine, beliefs, or practices on public schools, it marginalizes students who don’t share those beliefs and treats them as unwelcome,” wrote Heather L. Weaver, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief.
“Students who do not feel safe and welcome in their school cannot focus on learning.”
Trump condemned religious violence, citing the August 27 shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, which killed two children and injured 21 others.
“I’ve made clear, Attorney General Pam Bondi is working really hard that we must get answers about the causes of these repeated attacks, and we’re working very, very hard on that,” said Donald Trump. “The Trump administration will have no tolerance for terrorism or political violence, and that includes hate crimes against Christians, Jews or anybody else.”
Last week, the Trump administration announced that transgender people may have limited access to firearms, accusing them of having mental illnesses. The Minneapolis church shooter was identified as Robin Westman, a transgender woman who had previously attended the church’s school.
A spokesperson for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation accused the Trump administration of scapegoating transgender individuals.
“Instead of actual solutions, the administration is again choosing to scapegoat and target a small and vulnerable population,” the spokesman for GLAAD stated. “Everyone deserves to be themselves, be safe and be free from violence and discrimination.”
