Daily prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance were as common as school lunch from students in previous generations, a time when many things were better in America, according to State Rep. Reed Ingram (R-Pike Road). That's why he's proposed a constitutional amendment to return both practices to the classroom.
House Bill 231, passed out of committee Thursday, would mandate that local school boards implement policies requiring daily prayer and pledge in every classroom or risk losing a percentage of the school's funding.
"It would hold the schools accountable," Ingreem said Thursday on "Priority Talk" with Greg Davis. "So if you don't start off the morning with the prayer and pledge, then they could be in jeopardy of losing the percentage of their funding. The prayer is based on Christianity. And we don't want it to get out of line. This is what this country was built on."
Ingram said students would not be forced to participate in either the pledge or prayer, but they could also not be disruptive. While some students may opt to stay silent, Ingram believes more will join in.
"But I think it would be contagious once we start doing it. I think they'll want to do it," he said.
Ingram said that putting the measure in the form of a constitutional amendment, which would require a majority vote by the people, would protect it from future challenges and help give teeth to a bill passed in 2022.
"We passed a bill in 2022 about putting the pledge in every classroom, but a lot of classrooms aren't doing it. You know, it's no teeth in it. There's no mechanism to make them do it or hold them accountable. And I think we need that mechanism," he said. "Every dollar that you spend is in God we trust, you know. And that's something we need to keep sacred. It's something that we need to keep sacred in the classroom. Our military recruitment is down. Our National Guard in the state of Alabama is down. And that's something that we need to get them to understand: this flag is a symbol. This flag stands for what we stand for and what we've always stood for in this country. And we've seen a change in the wind when Trump got elected. It's not about politics, it's not about Republican or Democrat, but it is about the morals of our country."
Ingram said it was vital for Americans to return to their Christian roots and help future generations have a solid, moral identity and "something to believe in."
"We knew what the classroom was. We knew we had less crime. We knew we had more people in our churches percentage-wise," he said. "... They're confused. They want something to believe in. And when we took prayer out of the schools and out of the classroom and out of a lot of places, you know, the ballgames, you know, that just took a lot away from them."
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