President Donald Trump used a packed Religious Liberty Commission meeting in Washington, D.C., to put prayer in public schools back at the center of the national conversation. Speaking at the Museum of the Bible, he said the Department of Education will soon issue guidance reaffirming that students and teachers may pray and express their faith without fear of punishment. The room rose to its feet. The message was unmistakable: the days of schools treating faith as contraband are over.

“For most of our country’s history, the Bible was found in every classroom,” Trump said, arguing that too many schools now trade morality for ideology and punish kids who live their beliefs. He promised course-correcting guidance that puts the First Amendment back where it belongs—on the side of religious expression, not against it.

This is not some symbolic nod to values voters. It is a direct challenge to the secular gatekeepers who spent years intimidating students and teachers with phony “separation” threats. The Supreme Court’s modern trajectory has already undercut the old Lemon v. Kurtzman regime, and Trump’s move aims to make sure principals, superintendents, and lawyers can’t hide behind outdated talking points to silence prayer at lunch tables, at the flagpole, or after a game.

The political stakes are massive. Blue-state officials and activist groups will scream “theocracy” on cue. They always do. But outside the Acela bubble, parents are fed up with schools that police pronouns and pornographic library books while pretending a kid bowing his head over pizza is a constitutional crisis. Most Americans know the difference between a government-imposed religion and a student’s right to speak and pray like any other citizen.

Trump tied the announcement to his broader effort to restore space for people of faith in public life. Earlier this year, he created the Religious Liberty Commission by executive order to advise the White House and Domestic Policy Council on protecting believers from government hostility. On Monday, the White House also circulated a list of the administration’s “Top 100 Victories for People of Faith” in just eight months—everything from cleaning out hostile bureaucracies to defending conscience rights. The through-line is obvious: this administration is not asking the cultural Left for permission.

Critics will pretend that any acknowledgment of God in a public setting is a violation. They conveniently ignore the actual standard: the Constitution protects free exercise and free speech. A student leading a voluntary prayer, a coach taking a knee after a game, a teacher keeping a Bible on a desk—those acts are not “establishment.” They’re America. The only thing being “established” in many districts today is a state-enforced secularism that punishes kids for living by the values their families teach.

There is also a practical reality. Schools across the country are struggling with discipline, apathy, and violence. Restoring room for prayer and moral clarity is not a magic wand, but it is a start. When adults in authority signal that virtue is welcome—not mocked—classrooms get calmer and communities grow stronger. Even Democrats who should know better have admitted as much. New York City’s Eric Adams once said that when prayer left schools, guns entered. He was right the first time.

Expect the usual lawsuits. Expect the usual media meltdown. And expect the administration to fight. Guidance from the Department of Education will not only protect students who choose to pray; it will also put districts on notice: if you punish faith, Washington will be watching. That flips the script. For years, fear and confusion let anti-religious activists bully districts into censoring kids. Now, those same districts will have a clear federal backstop for religious expression—and a political incentive to stop trampling it.

Trump’s promise resonated because it speaks to something deeper than policy. Parents want schools that teach reading and right from wrong, not ideology and grievance. They want administrators who are more worried about safety than social engineering, more focused on excellence than activism. Let kids pray if they want to pray. Let teachers live their faith without living in fear. That’s not radical. That’s America.

The standing ovation wasn’t just for a line in a speech. It was for a return to sanity—and a White House willing to defend it.