Missourians Will Vote On Expanding Free Exercise Clause In State Constitution

In November 2012, Missouri voters will vote on a proposed state constitutional amendment (full text) that, if passed, will expand the language of the religious freedom protections in the current Art. I, Sec. 5 of the Missouri Constitution. HJR 2, approved by the House in March was approved by the state Senate yesterday. In addition to making the language of the free exercise provisions gender neutral, the new Art. I, Sec. 5 will add a laundry list of protections:

• neither state or local governments shall establish any official religion, nor shall a citizen's right to pray or express religious beliefs be infringed;
• the state shall not coerce anyone to participate in prayer or other religious activity, but shall ensure that any person shall have the right to pray individually or corporately in a private or public setting;
• citizens as well as state and local elected officials and employees shall have the right to pray on government premises and public property within the same parameters placed on other speech under similar circumstances;
• the General Assembly and the governing bodies of political subdivisions may extend to clergy and others the privilege to offer invocations or other prayers at their meetings or sessions;
• students may express their beliefs about religion in written and oral assignments free from discrimination based on the religious content of their work;
• no student shall be compelled to perform or participate in academic assignments or educational presentations that violate his or her religious beliefs;
• the state shall ensure public school students their right to free exercise of religious expression without interference, as long as their prayer or expression is private and voluntary, whether individually or corporately, and in a manner that is not disruptive and as long as such prayers or expressions abide by the same parameters placed upon other speech;
• all free public schools receiving state appropriations shall display, in a conspicuous and legible manner, the text of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States.

According to Political Fix, in past years, similar proposals have died in the state Senate. State senator Jolie Justus said:  "This was such a meaningless amendment, we just didn’t feel like we needed to put forth the effort to stop it this year."  Rep. Mike McGhee who sponsored the proposal in the House disagreed. He said: "If voters approve this it will send a message that the citizens of the state believe it’s OK to read a Bible to study hall. That it’s OK to pray briefly before a City Council meeting. That’s what we were trying to do by bringing this amendment forward." [Thanks to Alliance Alert for the lead.]