JEFFERSON CITY–Voters will be looking at a constitutional amendment regarding religious freedom when they go to the polls in August or November.
House Joint Resolution 2 (HJR 2), which was passed by both houses of the General Assembly in 2011, spells out the rights of citizens to pray in public places.
The question will automatically appear on the Nov. 6 ballot unless Missouri Gov. Jeremiah “Jay” Nixon certifies it for the Aug. 7 general election.
The legislation is in the hands of Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, whose office has prepared the ballot question but cannot assign a number to the ballot until the governor determines when it is to be presented to voters.
Rep. Mike McGhee, R-Odessa and a member of First Baptist Church, Odessa, is the bill’s sponsor. He said it is needed.
“Just in my own community, we had a young woman who was asked not to take her Bible to study hall,” he said. “She told her story to me and came here to testify.
“Another family had a young son in public schools who loved to sing. He had spent a lot of time in church, so one of the songs he knew was “Jesus Loves Me.” One day, a teacher heard him singing on the playground and asked him to change the words to ‘Mommy Loves Me.’
“I was overwhelmed with that.”
He then gave another example.
“In Lafayette County, a child in the lunchroom in school bowed her head to pray. A lunch monitor came over and said that it was not appropriate.
“People have contacted me from all over the state, and other states.”
McGhee was originally asked to sponsor the legislation by Rep. Carl Bearden, another Missouri Southern Baptist, sometime before he (Bearden) resigned his House seat in 2007. Bearden had tried, unsuccessfully, to get it passed.
McGhee spent four years trying to get passage on the bill but could never get it past the full Senate. Last year, Sen. Jack Goodman, R-Mt. Vernon, carried it in the Senate, and it passed.
Kerry Messer, legislative liaison for the Missouri Baptist Convention’s Christian Life Commission (CLC), said the amendment clearly defines the framework of students’ rights of free expression and prayer in public schools.
“HJR 2 outlines citizens’ right to religious expression, specifically in the arena of praying in public places,” Messer stated.
“The key focus in the proposed amendment covers local governmental entities. They have the right to have prayers or to have religious leaders to open their body’s public meetings with prayer. Public school students’ will have the right to pray at school.”
Messer said the CLC will be promoting the amendment this year.
“We want to pass this with the highest percentage of voters possible,” he said. “We’d rather have 85 percent than 55 percent.”