Prayer to be sung at preschoolers to skirt rule
Published Online: October 1, 2012
WEST FORK, Ark. (AP) — A northwest Arkansas lawmaker says children at a preschool he owns will sing a prayer song before lunch instead of reciting a spoken prayer to skirt a new rule that prohibits religious activity in state-funded preschools.
"It just dawned on me that, well, we could sing our prayer," Harris, a Republican, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (http://bit.ly/SMI1vb). "We have a song that's a prayer, and that's what we're going to use before we eat."
That way the preschool, Growing God's Kingdom in West Fork, will be in compliance with the new rule that goes into effect Oct. 26. It bans religious activities at preschools that receive funds from the Arkansas Better Chance Program, a state-funded preschool program for low-income families.
"If he continues to do that, he will lose his funding, if he wants to push it," said state Rep. Johnnie Roebuck, D-Arkadelphia. "Mr. Harris is using this, I think, as a political ploy, wanting to get some airtime for it. I think it's unconscionable to use those children in that way."
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/09/29/553558rsingingprayers_ap.html
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