A Republican National Committee member from Iowa last week claimed that the end of school prayer led to an uptick in serious crimes committed by students.
RNC committeewoman Tamara Scott on Friday joined the “View From a Pew” radio program to discuss her experience at Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s (R) prayer rally.
“When the prayer came out in the ‘70s — and that’s one of the things that I prayed for last week in Louisiana with 6,000 people: repentance. Because we as a church should have never have let that happen, we should never have allowed prayer to be taken out of our schools,” she said, according to video published by Right Wing Watch.
Scott then cited conservative activist David Barton, claiming that the end of school prayer has hurt the nation.
“Since we’ve done that, David Barton has done studies and research that in your schools, the crimes used to be gum, tardiness and talking. Now it is assault, rape, murder. We’re dealing with much more difficult issues,” she said.
She added that schools should not have stopped teaching the scripture verse, “Treat others like you want to be yourself treated.”
“We’ve taken the bible out and the schools are now groping for something to replace it, and in its place with all kinds of bad law on top of bad law that only oppress us and make us all victims to possible fine and punishment for somebody else’s cause,” Scott said.
Watch the video via Right Wing Watch:
