
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, December 10, 1994                   TAG: 9412120045
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                 LENGTH: Short

COALITION FORMS VS. ORGANIZED PRAYER

Virginia religious leaders and liberal activists on Friday said they are forming a coalition to oppose organized prayer in public schools.

The Virginia Coalition for Religious Freedom said it will urge state officials to ban student- or adult-led prayer at school events but make it clear that students have the right to pray privately.

Students also should be allowed to form Bible study or other groups that would meet in school buildings, coalition members said during a news conference

``The concern is with organized prayer at school events,'' said Elliot M. Mincberg of People for the American Way.

The coalition has written proposed guidelines for the state Board of Education to consider, but declined to make them public. The group also would not release a list of its members. Among those who spoke at the news conference were Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians and Jews.

The 1994 General Assembly directed the Board of Education to develop constitutional guidelines for student-led prayers in public schools. The state Department of Education and the attorney general's office are scheduled to submit a first draft of guidelines to the board next week. Public hearings on the guidelines are scheduled for February.

School prayer has re-emerged as a national issue since Republicans won control of Congress and House Speaker-elect Newt Gingrich pledged to seek a constitutional amendment allowing prayer in public schools.

The U.S. Supreme Court banned organized school prayers in 1962. Since then, members of Congress have made several unsuccessful attempts to pass a constitutional amendment to reverse that decision.

by CNB