Prayer lockers removed from Kentucky High School hallway

Pike Central High School in Eastern Kentucky will be removing prayer lockers from its hallways after the national organization, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, complained against it.

Signs on the so-called prayer lockers say that students can make confidential requests asking other students to pray for them. A student and the school’s art department posted photos of the two lockers on Facebook which claims the locker to be sponsored by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

American United sent a complaint to the school based on an online tip from a person in the Pike County community. The group’s staff attorney Ian Smith signed the complaint letter which argues that the lockers are “likely a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.”

Smith in an interview said, “It is pretty straightforward that public schools cannot display religious messages, and they can’t encourage their students to pray or engage in religious activity.”

The Pike County locker episode is one of the recent cases questioning the separation of state and church in Kentucky. Governor Matt Bevin tweeted a controversial video last week that encouraged students to participate in “Bring Your Bible To School Day.”