Florida’s public school prayer bill, SB 98, has passed the full Senate and the House Judiciary Committee and moves to the House floor for a vote as soon as today.

We’ve discussed the major provisions of the bill on the Legislative Blog before, but since that time the legislation has been made significantly worse. In its current form, the legislation would allow religious prayers at any school event, voluntary or not, in both elementary and secondary schools.

As of this week, the Florida Family Council (associated with Focus on the Family) and the Liberty Counsel (a conservative Christian legal group) have come out in opposition to SB 98 as well.  When a number of far-right groups agree with us and our allies that a bill is unconstitutional, the legislation clearly goes too far. The organizations rightly point out that if the bill passes, school districts throughout the state will face an onslaught of costly lawsuits seeking to protect students’ religious freedom.

We sincerely hope SB 98 is finally stopped in the best interests of Florida students and school districts.