By Christian                                         H.C.R. No. 258
         76R14174 JLZ-D                           
                             HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
 1-1           WHEREAS, The most cherished principles of freedom and
 1-2     individual liberty that underlie American society are embodied in
 1-3     the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights, the first and
 1-4     foremost principle being the First Amendment guarantee of freedom
 1-5     of religion, speech, and the press, of the right to peaceably
 1-6     assemble, and of the right to petition the government; and
 1-7           WHEREAS, With regard to religious freedom, the First
 1-8     Amendment unambiguously declares that the state has no right either
 1-9     to establish an official religion or to prohibit a person's freedom
1-10     to worship according to the dictates of religious faith and
1-11     individual conscience; and
1-12           WHEREAS, While state-sponsored prayer in public schools has
1-13     been prohibited, the right to participate in voluntary,
1-14     student-initiated and student-led prayers in public schools also
1-15     has been challenged in recent years, and those challenges have
1-16     resulted in conflicting federal court rulings that threaten to
1-17     infringe on the citizenry's fundamental right to the free exercise
1-18     of religion; and
1-19           WHEREAS, Some courts, most notably the Fifth Circuit Court in
1-20     Jones v. Clear Creek Independent School District (Jones II), have
1-21     recognized the crucial difference between government speech
1-22     endorsing religion, which the establishment clause prohibits, and
1-23     private speech expressing religious sentiments, which the free
1-24     speech and free exercise clauses protect, and thus allowed
 2-1     student-led prayers at school functions such as graduation
 2-2     ceremonies; and
 2-3           WHEREAS, Other courts, most recently a three-judge panel of
 2-4     the Fifth Circuit Court in Doe v. Santa Fe ISD, have refused to
 2-5     recognize the difference and disallowed similar initiatives for
 2-6     voluntary student-led prayers, despite the fact that the Santa Fe
 2-7     district's policy was practically indistinguishable from the school
 2-8     policy upheld in the Jones II rulings; and
 2-9           WHEREAS, In this Texas case, the Santa Fe school district in
2-10     Galveston County was sued by two parents who believed that prayers
2-11     offered by students at graduation ceremonies and football games
2-12     violated the First Amendment's establishment clause, and although
2-13     the trial court sided with the school district and allowed
2-14     student-led prayers on those occasions, two members of the
2-15     appellate court agreed with the plaintiffs and disallowed the
2-16     prayers; and
2-17           WHEREAS, In response to this adverse appellate court
2-18     decision, Attorney General John Cornyn and Governor George W. Bush
2-19     filed an amicus brief supporting the students' right to gather in
2-20     prayer; despite this intervention by the state, the full 16-member
2-21     Fifth Circuit Court, meeting en banc, upheld the ban on prayers or
2-22     any expression of religious belief at football games in a 9-7
2-23     decision; and
2-24           WHEREAS, This ruling poses a two-fold dilemma for the
2-25     individual and for the state: a citizen's basic freedom of
2-26     religious expression is denied, and the state is placed in the
2-27     untenable position of determining which religious viewpoints are
 3-1     appropriately nonsectarian and nonproselytizing and thus
 3-2     permissible; and
 3-3           WHEREAS, Such blatant suppression of religious expression
 3-4     will have a substantial and direct effect on citizens' right to
 3-5     practice their religious faith; this decision by the courts is
 3-6     unprecedented and marks the first time in history that a court has
 3-7     attempted to control the content of students' prayers; now,
 3-8     therefore, be it
 3-9           RESOLVED, That the 76th Legislature of the State of Texas
3-10     hereby express its support of the right to voluntary,
3-11     student-initiated prayer in public schools and the right to
3-12     practice one's own religious faith without the interference of the
3-13     state; and, be it further
3-14           RESOLVED, That the legislature encourage the office of the
3-15     attorney general to continue its efforts in support of the Santa Fe
3-16     Independent School District and to litigate on behalf of this and
3-17     other school districts across the state that face similar
3-18     challenges to ensure that students' right to engage in voluntary
3-19     prayer will not be abridged in the State of Texas; and, be it
3-20     further
3-21           RESOLVED, That the secretary of state forward an official
3-22     copy of this resolution to the office of the attorney general.