Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Two GOP candidates for governor in slugfest over school prayer

In the contest for conservative voters, Gov. Ernie Fletcher and his chief opponent in the GOP primary election are in a bitter argument over who is the biggest supporter of prayer in public schools.

Fletcher had aired a television ad last week that said Republican challenger Anne Northup, a former congresswoman from Louisville, had voted against school prayer.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," Northup said in recorded telephone calls to Republicans across the state. "I have voted time after time in support of prayer in our schools, and as governor I look forward to protecting this right. As a matter of fact, I have consistently argued that taking God out of our schools has undermined our children's faith."

Northup, who served in Congress for 10 years before losing the seat to a Democrat last year, voted against a 1998 resolution that called for a constitutional amendment that would have allowed voluntary school prayer.

At a campaign stop in Liberty on Monday, Northup said she voted against the resolution because it would have allowed teachers to lead the prayers, which meant adults of one religion could have been in a position to lead children of another religion in prayer.

"Christian families do not want teacher-led prayer in their classrooms," Northup said.

This from the Courier-Journal.

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