School prayer foes go to courts

The Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has filed suit in state Su preme Judicial Court seeking to block the state's new law permitting prayer in public schools. A spokesman said the prayer law, which went into effect Tuesday, is in violation of the First Amendment guarantee of separation of church and state.

The new Massachusetts law requires schools to provide time for voluntary prayer or silent meditation before the start of classes each day. Students or teachers who do not want to take part may leave the room. Mandatory school prayer was banned by the United States Supreme Court in 1963.