A proposed ballot measure would require teachers and students to say a prayer to "Almighty God"

Aug 23, 2024

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A Florida man has completed Phase One of forcing prayer in every public school classroom… in South Dakota. The path forward may be a long shot, but Florida Man™ Hillel Hellinger is taking it seriously, compelling state officials to do the same.

Hellinger wants to pass an amendment to the South Dakota Constitution that would require teachers to lead students in non-denominational prayer every morning. Per state law, that begins by submitting the text of the proposed ballot measure to the attorney general, and what Hellinger submitted was Christian Nationalism in action:

Each school district shall require that every school day begin with each teacher Grades K through 12 leading their students in the non-denominational prayer provided in this section.

The teacher shall lead their students in the prayer reciting phrase by phrase with each student repeating each phrase. The text of this prayer is as follows:

"Almighty God, who is aware of His creation, who keeps it going and judges it, please have mercy on us."

This act excuses the participation of both teachers and students whose parents object on religious grounds to the saving of the prayer mentioned in this section.

Those seeking a religious exemption from participating in prayer shall submit their request in writing to the school principal. 

Hellinger doesn’t just want everyone to pray. He wants to force them to do it. And he even wants to shove the literal words down their throats. He wants every kid to acknowledge his God and beg for mercy. And then he wants to put up an obstacle for everyone who may want to opt out—it’s not enough that they might not want to participate or that they might be ostracized for that decision; he’s gonna make them put it in writing.

To state the obvious, every bit of that is illegal. You can’t force kids to say a prayer. You can’t force them to say your prayer. And you can’t make them do homework just to get out of it.

Given all that, why the hell is a Florida Man™ doing this in South Dakota instead of his home state, anyway?

Simple: It’s a lot easier to push shit like this in South Dakota because it doesn’t require as much work—and Hellinger knows it:

“It only has to be submitted in one state," Hellinger said. "If I were to admit it in Florida, I could do the exact same thing, but I would need more than 50 times as many people to sign the petition to get it on the ballot. I mean, South Dakota may be a very crime-free state, but most of the country is going through a lot of crime. By children knowing there’s a god in this world it would have an influence on their behavior.”

He admits he’s only choosing South Dakota because of the lower threshold even while acknowledging that the state doesn’t really need God’s oversight in order to maintain safety. But why should that matter? The rules are loose, so he’s going for it.

And because he’s going for it, for legal reasons, SD Attorney General Marty Jackley has to take it seriously. That means publicly explaining the proposed measure in “fair and neutral” language, then allowing the public to weigh in on that language, then submitting it to another official, before finally passing it back to Hellinger to get the signatures he needs if he wants this proposal on the 2026 ballot. (That last part is the biggest hurdle.)

None of that, however, even touches on the merits of this dumpster fire of a measure. It doesn’t matter how idiotic a proposed ballot measure is as long as the paperwork is complete.

Jackley, a Republican, explained in a press release that he’s not taking a position on the matter and that his role here is purely clerical. (Don’t shoot the messenger!) He just has to provide the public with a “objective, clear, and simple summary” of the measure and tell people about any potential legal consequences.

In this case, all that’s pretty straightforward. After restating the prayer and the way people can opt out, Jackley said the measure “may be challenged in court on constitutional grounds.” He’s right, but that’s one hell of an understatement.

I don’t have any problem with the wording. Jackley isn’t the issue here. (Not yet, anyway.) He says elsewhere that this measure will need 17,509 valid signatures to get on the 2026 ballot, and that the public has 10 days (until August 30) to offer any complaints about his explanation of the measure. The final draft of the measure will be sent to the Secretary of State by September 9.

It’ll be a while, in other words, before the supposed legality of this proposal comes into play. But Hellinger isn’t worried about that. He thinks he’s on solid ground because his lawyer friend told him it’d be fine:

“I emailed Alan Dershowitz regarding this issue, and he says that with the present supreme court it’s very likely they would overturn the 1962 ruling and allow for non-denominational prayer in public schools,” Hellinger said.

Nothing like asking Jeffrey Epstein’s buddy about whether your legal theories are on firm footing…

That said, Dershowitz isn’t entirely wrong here. If someone gave the current Supreme Court a way to demolish the wall of separation between church and state, they just might take it. We already know they’ll make up “facts” to fit the outcome they want.

Whether they would do that with this measure, I don’t know. It’s so blatantly illegal, urging teachers and students to acknowledge the existence of “Almighty God,” that even some of the conservatives may not want to support it… but let’s hope they’re never in a position to be able to decide.

Incidentally, Hellinger made news in 2000 when he sued a pharmacy that refused to hire him because he wouldn’t sell condoms for religious reasons. He lost that case.

He also ran for North Miami Beach Council in 2009 but that campaign fizzled after he was a no-show at several candidate forums. His excuse was that, as an Orthodox Jew, he couldn’t meet on the Sabbath. He ran again in 2013 and was asked in a forum how he’d expand tech opportunities for public school students. He responded by saying his 10 kids all attended private school and he didn’t know what they did in public schools.

And yet now he thinks he has the right to tell public schools in another state how they ought to waste their time every day by acknowledging his God. I don’t know how he plans to collect signatures from hundreds of miles away, but people should turn their back on this idea as quickly as possible.