FFRF Action Fund’s “Secularist of the Week” is a courageous North Carolina school board member who vocally opposed drafting an invocation proposal for board meetings, asserting that the school board is “not in the business of faith or religion.”
In April, the Cabarrus County School Board discussed whether to introduce Christian prayer to board meetings. The discussion was initiated by board member Melanie Freeman, who wants an invocation to open each board meeting. Board member Pam Escobar was almost alone in her dissent, and despite Escobar’s sound arguments, the board eventually approved the proposal’s drafting in a 5-2 vote. After the proposal is drafted, the board will have to discuss and vote on it again before any official changes are implemented.
Freeman professed that “prayer has been the bedrock of this nation,” while justifying her proposal. She also pointed to “In God We Trust” appearing on U.S. currency and “One nation under God” appearing in the Pledge of Allegiance as reasons why the school board should incorporate invocations, despite there being no legal precedent for invocations at school board meetings.
Escobar was concise and persuasive in her argument against the proposal, underscoring, “Frankly, we are not in the business of faith or religion. That’s not what we do! We teach, we empower, we inspire.” She pointed to the diversity in Cabarrus County: “If you looked at our audience, they don’t look like us. They look like this community. We are diverse, we come from 92 countries, we speak 67 languages, we represent the United States, we also represent Cabarrus County.”
“If you put prayer at the beginning of this meeting, I don’t think that’s a welcoming sign to the people who are in this room tonight. There are people in this room who don’t practice the faith that people on this board practice.”
“I would not want to do anything that says to this community, ‘You don’t belong in our school district. You don’t belong in our public school system,’” asserted Escobar. “And so, this, to me, is very disturbing because I think it sends the wrong message.”
Escobar called attention to the fact that select school board members already pray before every board meeting, “if you choose to be a part of it.” The participating board members congregate outside the meeting room with a lobbyist from Capitol Ministries. The lobbyist group is led by a right-wing pastor who hosts bible studies for Congress members and claims that those who disagree with the religious Right are working for Satan.
“How much prayer do you need? How much God do you need?” Escobar asked her colleagues. “And I will tell you, just personally, as a board member, I do not feel welcome to be a part of that prayer, and I’m Christian! I do not feel welcome to go outside and pray with you.”
“So, if I’m one of seven people who are sitting up here, telling you, this is exclusionary, how can we be a part of the school system, and do that to our entire school district?” demanded Escobar.
Escobar highlighted that the audience does not attend meetings to pray with board members, saying, “If you want to pray with them, take them to church. You want to be an evangelical and do that? Go for it. But not on my time, not on their time and not on this community’s time.”
Escobar also pointed to the legal troubles the school board will invite if invocations are incorporated into board meetings. She referred to a North Carolina county government that had to pay hefty legal fees because of its Christian-only prayers during meetings. Escobar stressed that the board must “be prepared for people to sue us because they have the right to religious freedom.” She argued that the legal ramifications and the amount of work invocations will likely incur for the school board’s lawyers and staff only further point to why prayer is unnecessary for board meetings.
“I don’t know why you need prayer to take this job seriously. Everyone up here took an oath,” said Escobar. She affirmed that she has always taken her duties as a school board member seriously without prayer. Escobar addressed her fellow board members: “Why do you need this? How does this benefit kids? And I have not heard a decent answer.”
In response to the board vote, FFRF Action Fund’s parent organization, FFRF, sent the board a legal complaint letter opposing the unconstitutional and exclusionary proposal. The letter cites decades of Supreme Court precedent barring school-sponsored prayer, noting that public school board meetings are not exempt from these protections. We profusely thank Escobar for her arguments against the approved proposal and her clear commitment to safeguarding our secular public school system. The Cabarrus County School Board must vote down this unconstitutional proposal when it reexamines the issue.
FFRF Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that develops and advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues.