The American Family Association of Kentucky believes school prayer has something to do with SAT scores and the AIDS epidemic.

Right Wing Watch reported that the conservative Christian group recently launched a petition calling for prayer in public schools.

The petition noted that Mississippi and Florida had enacted laws that allowed public prayers to be given at school assemblies, graduation ceremonies and sporting events.

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“Prayer was in our schools for over 200 years before the anti-God forces took it out in 1962,” the petition stated. “After prayer was removed from our schools, teen pregnancy went up 500%, STD’s went up 226%, violent crime went up 500% and SAT scores went down for 18 years in a row, opening the door for the AIDS epidemic and the drug culture.”

The Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment prohibits public schools from promoting or sponsoring religious activities such as prayers, but there is not a similar prohibition against voluntary student-led religious activities in most circumstances.

[“Young Woman Praying With Rosary In Hand” on Shutterstock]