Prayer should be put back in schools to prevent shootings, Texas sheriff official says
In a 750-word open letter to his Texas community, a spokesperson for the Hood County Sheriff’s Office has proposed a fix for the school shooting issue many communities in the United States are facing.
The answer, according to Lt. Johnny Rose, is turning to God and more prayer in schools.
“I propose we turn to God and his son Jesus for the answer. I am a follower of Jesus and know through experience that he is faithful and always comes through,” Rose, the public information officer for the sheriff’s office, said in a news release.
“So, I am appealing to all the Jesus followers that prayer needs put back in schools and we need to start praying for our children in Hood County, the State of Texas, and the United States of America,” Rose added.
Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds, who originally told McClatchy News he supported Rose’s release, said he later removed the Facebook post because of complaints against the lieutenant.
Rose was also removed from his position as public information officer, Deeds said.
The original post can be read here.
“Children are our future and they have to be protected,” the sheriff originally told McClatchy. “I believe in prayer, it does work. If more people would get involved in a church and all of their activities this world would be a better place. We will do anything we can to serve and protect our children and our schools when we need to.”
Rose’s comments come more than a month after 19 children and two adults were killed when a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Uvalde is about 300 miles southwest of Hood County, which is a part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
There have been 27 school shootings this year and 119 since 2018, according to Education Week. Twenty-seven people were killed and an additional 56 people injured during the 2022 incidents.
Gun control has been at the height of Beto O’Rourke’s platform as he looks to unseat Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in this fall’s gubernatorial election. The Democratic candidate has often said civilians should not own assault weapons and has advocated the state should stop selling AR-15s, KVUE reported.
But according to Rose, that will not fix the problem.
“Taking away firearms from honest people is definitely not the answer,” Rose said in the letter. “Taking away firearms from bad guys, well we already do that when we catch felons in possession of firearms.”
The 18-year-old gunman from the Uvalde elementary legally purchased two AR-15s days before the school shooting, according to The Texas Tribune.
Rose is not alone in supporting the return of prayer to schools, which the Supreme Court ruled in the 1962 case of Engel v. Vitale could not be imposed upon students as it violates the First Amendment.
At the time, the Supreme Court said because Americans “adhere to a wide variety of beliefs, it is not appropriate for the government to endorse any particular belief system.”
But in last month’s Kennedy v. Bremerton School District decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a public high school football coach, who they say was protected by the Constitution when he knelt and prayed on the field after games.
The decision, dissenting Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, “sets us further down a perilous path in forcing states to entangle themselves with religion.”
It’s unclear if the Supreme Court will take on further cases involving prayer in school.
But Rose believes students, parents and church members “can make a difference by praying” at their schools.
“I am sounding the call to join together for the children of the United States of America,” Rose said in a prayer at the end of his letter. “There is strength in numbers, and we are bigger than we think we are. We have power and authority from Jesus.”
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