Freedom From Religion Foundation State Policy Manager Ryan Dudley has penned an op-ed featured in the Kansas City Star detailing legislation called the Student Secular Bill of Rights — a bill the FFRF Action Fund played a prominent role in drafting.

“U.S. Supreme Court rulings have protected public school students from religious coercion for more than 60 years,” Dudley writes. “But as the repeal of Roe v. Wade shows, what’s established today could be reversed tomorrow.”

Dudley continues by outlining the key points of the bill — and what’s at stake without clear guidelines in place: 

That’s why Kansas House Bill 2431, the Student Secular Bill of Rights, matters. Introduced by state Reps. Heather Meyer, Melissa Oropeza and Susan Ruiz, the proposal draws on long-established Supreme Court precedent. It codifies rights against any religious coercion or discrimination in public schools into law, so that Kansas students and parents aren’t left at the mercy of our shifting federal courts. A companion measure has also been introduced in the Kansas Senate, SB 424, filed by state Sen. Silas Miller, signaling growing support for establishing clear, statewide protections for freedom of conscience in public schools.

The Supreme Court prohibited devotional religious instruction in public schools in 1948, school-sponsored prayer in 1962 and Bible-reading and the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer in 1963. It struck down Ten Commandments displays in classrooms in 1980. It ruled against school-sponsored prayers at graduation in 1992 and at school sporting events in 2000. For generations, these decisions have protected student freedom of conscience by defining what public schools can and cannot do. But we’ve seen how quickly settled law can become unsettled.

That’s why HB 2431 provides clarity and durability. The protections would live in the Kansas statute, not hinging on the next Supreme Court appointment or test case. The bill protects every student’s right to practice their faith at school. It protects students who choose not to practice any religion. And it prohibits schools from sponsoring religious activities, including staff-led prayer, religious displays and religious instruction during class time.

None of this would ban student prayer. It wouldn’t ban religious clubs. It wouldn’t stop kids from wearing crosses or hijabs or yarmulkes. It wouldn’t prevent teachers from teaching about world religions in history or literature.

HB 2431 also respects parental rights by ensuring that religious instruction remains a parental decision not a function of the state. The only way to protect religious freedom for everyone is to keep the government neutral. When the government picks winners among faiths, the rest of us lose. HB 2431 would protect religious families from having the government decide which religion or rituals their children should follow. It would protect Catholic families in a district that might favor a Protestant denomination. It would protect Jewish and Muslim and Hindu families from majoritarian pressure. And it would protect nonreligious families from being singled out for not participating. The bill would also help educators. Right now, teachers are left guessing about what’s permissible. Clear rules mean fewer lawsuits and legal payouts, less confusion and divisiveness, and more time for actual teaching.

Dudley finishes his piece by calling for these rights to be made law, to protect true religious liberty: “Federal precedent isn’t permanent. We know that now. HB 2431 would allow the Kansas Legislature to ensure that the religious freedom of students and parents in the Sunflower State is protected.”

You can read the full op-ed here. 

This column is part of FFRF’s initiative to engage with pertinent national and state issues and spread the messages of freethought and nontheism to a broader audience.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 42,000 members across the country, including hundreds of members in Kansas. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

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