Atheists claim Grove City, Pa. school board has dropped prayer

GROVE CITY, Pa. (AP) — An atheists’ group based in Wisconsin says the school board here has decided to replace a pre-meeting spoken prayer with a moment of silence after the group threatened to sue.

Superintendent Richard Mextorf today confirmed that the school board voted 7-2 at a meeting last week to change the policy in the Grove City Area School District.

The school board in June at first refused to change the policy after the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Madison, Wis., threatened to sue.

Mextorf says the school board relented after he and the district’s solicitor researched court opinions that suggested the district would likely lose a lawsuit defended with taxpayers’ money.

The school district is home to Grove City College, a conservative Christian school and several like-minded churches.