<\/strong>Recent polling shows that 82 percent of Missouri voters favor the so-called \u201cPray Anywhere\u201d constitutional amendment on the August 7 [2012] ballot. Well, sure they do. It’s an apple-pie issue, right? The U.S. Constitution-\u2013as well as the Missouri constitution\u2014protect freedom of religion, so what’s the problem?<\/p>\n

First, those pre-existing constitutional conditions pretty much make an additional constitutional amendment superfluous.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, in Missouri, that logic doesn\u2019t apply, and a lot of people\u2019s knees jerk when they’re propagandized into fearing that prayer might be restricted.<\/p>\n

And what a lot\u00a0 people may not know is that there\u2019s a critical poison pill hidden in the fine print of the amendment. \u00a0When Missouri voters go to the polls on August 7, here\u2019s the language they\u2019ll be voting on:<\/p>\n

Missouri Constitutional Amendment 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to ensure:<\/p>\n

\n
• That the right of Missouri citizens to express their religious beliefs shall not be infringed;<\/li>\n
• That school children have the right to pray and acknowledge God voluntarily in their schools; and<\/li>\n
• That all public schools shall display the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n

  Sounds innocuous enough: redundant, to be sure, but not dangerous, right?<\/p>\n

  Not exactly. The ballot language conveniently doesn’t mention these phrases:<\/p>\n

  \u2026students may express about religion in written and oral assignments free from discrimination… no student shall be compelled to perform or participate in academic assignments or educational presentations that violate his or her religious beliefs…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

  If I understand this section correctly, a fifth-grader could leave the classroom during a presentation on Darwin and evolution. For that matter, under this provision, if your family enjoys membership in the Flat Earth Society, you might be allowed to refuse to answer a fill-in-the-blank question about the circumference of the earth\u2014and not be penalized.<\/p>\n

  The possibilities abound: \u00a0Can one recuse oneself from a health class because one\u2019s religion rejects modern medicine? Can you demand full credit for a unit on geology from which you abstain, if your parents\u2019 religion rejects the validity of carbon-dating and insists that everything happened in seven days? Oh, and by the way, does all of this religious freedom apply to Muslims? Jews? Mormons? Scientologists?<\/p>\n

  Don\u2019t get me wrong: There\u2019s plenty of crap in the contemporary public-school curriculum. Personally, I\u2019d let my own child skip those silly handwriting lessons that attempt to make kids write \u201ccursive.\u201d And we all need to take a look at how history is being taught.<\/p>\n

  But this amendment takes things to a new level of absurdity and promises to beget many lawsuits. If the 82 percenters actually come out and vote for this wolf in sheep’s clothing, we\u2019re in for educational problems of–well– Biblical proportions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Recent polling shows that 82 percent of Missouri voters favor the so-called \u201cPray Anywhere\u201d constitutional amendment on the August 7 [2012] ballot. Well, sure<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,119,1512],"tags":[1642,1641],"yoast_head":"\n