Ohio Prayer in Public Schools Initiative (2017)
| Ohio Prayer in Public Schools Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 7, 2017 | |
| Topic Religion | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The Ohio Prayer in Public Schools Initiative was not on the November 7, 2017, ballot in Ohio as an initiated constitutional amendment.
The measure was designed to express that children have a right to communicate their religious beliefs and pray in schools and the right of Ohioans to communicate their religious beliefs shall not be infringed upon. The measure would have required all public schools to display the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution.[1]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The proposed ballot title was:[1]
| “ | The Amendment to Return Prayer to Our Public Schools[2] | ” |
Ballot summary
The proposed ballot title was:[1]
| “ | This amendment would express the following:
|
” |
Support
The committee submitting the petition included Henry L. Johnson III, Linda Bridges, Tracy Armstrong, and Elinor Upshaw.[1]
Arguments
- Henry L. Johnson III, one of the initiative petitioners and senior pastor at Union Grove Baptist Church, said, "When I was coming up, it was quite different than what it is today. We didn't have a problem of having prayer in school. We didn't have a problem with having Christmas plays and Easter plays. We feel like as Christians, our rights are being deprived."[3]
Path to the ballot
Petitioners submitted a petition for the initiative, along with 1,402 signatures, to the Ohio Attorney General on June 15, 2016.[1][3] Supporters were required to turn 1,000 signatures in with the petition. On June 22, 2016, Attorney General Mark DeWine (R) rejected the petition because petitioners did not include text for the constitutional amendment. Furthermore, the petition was not properly labeled.[4]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Ohio Attorney General, "Initiative Petition," June 15, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Plain Dealer, "Proposed amendment advocating prayer in Ohio schools rejected on technicality," June 22, 2016
- ↑ Ohio Attorney General, "Re: Submitted Petition for Initiated Constitutional Amendment ," June 22, 2016
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