Peoria Unified governing board member Rebecca Hill has been reciting biblical scripture at public school board meetings for a couple months now.
While the U.S. Supreme Court has referred to the separation of church and state as a blurred barrier rather than a wall, it also states prayer and scripture should not “denigrate non-believers or religious minorities, threaten damnation, or preach conversion."
At the May 22 board meeting during the board comments section of the agenda, Hill raised eyebrows when she recited Bible verse Matthew 18:6, suggesting those who lead people away from Christ should be drowned in the sea: “But whoever causes one of these little ones — who believe in me — to stumble and sin by leading him away from my teaching, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
