Political Quotes

Ernest Istook: “What we have here is a clear requirement, because a teacher, of course, as any person who is part of local government…”

On the recordMay 5, 1998
What we have here is a clear requirement, because a teacher, of course, as any person who is part of local government, is considered an agent of State government. That is a binding rule of law. Local government is a subset of State government. So when we say, ``Neither the United States nor any State shall require any person to join in prayer or other religious activity,'' you are saying that no agent of government can dictate to people you have got to pray or we are going to pressure you to participate in some sort of religious activity. That is to avoid just trying to get people to join in the prayer if they may not want to do so, but trying to make sure that you are also not trying to push them into any other type of religious activity. So we have tried to make sure that we cover that as well as other concerns of people with that language.
Said by
Ernest Istook
Oklahoma
Source
govinfo.gov

Editor's note · Context

Discussing the implications of a proposed amendment on prayer and religious activity in schools.

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