Students at a Christian school in the European nation of Sweden will no longer be able to pray over their meals following a shock new ruling. After a school inspection, the schooling authority prohibited students from saying grace at mealtimes, talking about the Bible, or saying “Amen”.
The municipality’s supervisors in charge of education asserted that the Christian activities violate Sweden’s educational policies, Swedish National Broadcaster STV reported. Britt Marie Mårtensson, the kindergarten’s manager, told the broadcaster that Sweden’s Education Act “can be interpreted in different ways” and thought saying grace at mealtimes wouldn’t constitute “education”.
“As a confessional activity, we knew we could no longer have prayer time while children are at their desks where they learn, so we thought we would add grace as a nice feature during mealtimes,” she said. “We interpreted the law differently from the municipality.”
The kids now sing a rhyme and give thanks for the sun, the rain, and the food at mealtimes.
“It’s sad because grace is a tradition, but the rhyme is also nice and it allows the kids to choose to whom and what they want to give thanks,” she added.
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