Conservative Republicans in Congress are pushing a bill to safeguard the right of U.S. military academies to say prayers before meals.
The bill comes after the American Civil Liberties Union's Maryland chapter wrote the Naval Academy questioning the legality of the prayer tradition, which may date from the school's founding in 1845.
Annapolis has a chaplain lead prayer before lunches where attendance is mandatory. West Point has no mealtime prayers. The Air Force Academy pauses at lunch for a moment of silence.
Rep. Walter Jones Jr., a North Carolina Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, introduced the bill with 23 co-sponsors. No hearings have been scheduled.
Jones said the bill wouldn't force the academies to offer prayers but ensure their right to do so.
The bill wouldn't affect state colleges such as Virginia Military Institute and The Citadel, which scrapped mealtime prayers in response to court rulings.
ACLU attorney David Rocah denounced Jones' bill as "drivel" and "political grandstanding." The ACLU objects to the prayers on the grounds of church-state separation.