Kentucky is one step closer to creating an official annual day of prayer for public school students, thanks to a new bill passed Thursday. House Bill 40 sponsor Rep. Regina Huff (R-Williamsburg) said the annual prayer event has already been promoted for two years by Kentucky governor and outspoken Christian Matt Bevin.
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HB40 reserves the last Wednesday of September each year as “A Day of Prayer for Kentucky’s Students,” WTVQ-TV reported.
Rep. Huff insisted that the event will be held on an inter-faith basis and that students will be encouraged to pray “in accordance with their own faith and consciences.”
“Their event at school will be student-initiated and conducted, and always before the start of the school day,” she explained.
The state-wide event will be part of a global prayer initiative held on the same day. Huff explained that the bill was thought up by students and other prayer advocates located in her district, adding that they “want to know that we are all united in this effort and that, on that particular day each year, we will be united with them.”
“Given all that our students are facing … Our students need to know that we are standing with them,” she said. “We all need to embrace this and be united in an effort of support in each individual’s manner of prayer for our schools, students and administrators.”
HB40 passed the State House on a vote of 83-5 and will now go to the Senate for consideration.
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin has become well-known for his promotion of public prayer. As Faithwire previously reported, Bevin suggested that prayer could be used to combat the rising levels of violence Louisville. In an effort to deal with the crisis, Bevin encouraged the people of Kentucky to embrace the “power of prayer” by organizing prayer groups that would regularly take to the streets of high-crime neighborhoods. He urged volunteers to choose a block in their communities and form teams of three to 10 people that could then walk up and down the streets several times a week for the next year.
“Go around the block, pause on each corner, pray for the people there, move to the next corner,” Bevin explained to reporters at the time. “And over the course of the year, here’s what’s going to happen – they’re going to get to know the people on the block.”
His plan was met with both supporters and detractors, but the conservative governor said it would be a chance for “people of faith to put their faith to work.”
“Pretty unsophisticated. Pretty uncomplicated. Pretty basic,” Bevin noted. “But I truly believe we’re going to see a difference in our city. I personally believe in the power of prayer.”
(H/T: WTVQ-TV)