Blog from the Capital

Kentucky voters chose gubernatorial candidates yesterday. In the Republican primary, current Governor Ernie Fletcher defeated former Congresswoman Anne Northup. During the later stages of the campaign, the candidates were consumed with an argument over which supported school prayer more strongly. Fletcher pointed to Northup's vote against a proposed constitutional amendment nearly 10 years ago.

At a campaign stop in Liberty on Monday, Northup said she voted against the resolution because it would have allowed teachers to lead the prayers, which meant adults of one religion could have been in a position to lead children of another religion in prayer.

"Christian families do not want teacher-led prayer in their classrooms," Northup said.

It saddens me that something as personal as prayer is still used cynically and divisively in politics. The truth is, voluntary school prayer is alive and well and has all the protections in the law that it needs. The days of widespread state-sponsored prayer in school are over, and that's a good thing. It's unfortunate that candidates for office who might have the good sense to recognize that are painted as somehow not religious enough, or not supportive enough of students who wish to pray.