Swedish municipality forbids Christian preschoolers from praying at mealtimes and from saying 'Amen'

A Swedish municipality has forbidden children at a Christian preschool from praying at mealtimes, talking about the Bible and saying "Amen" because the said activities allegedly violate the country's educational policies.

The Umea municipality has found that the activities at a Salvation Army-run preschool run contrary to Sweden's Education Act, which prohibits educational content from including confessional elements during school time. The policy also states that children should be able to choose whether or not to participate in religious practices.

Inspectors from the district believe that the children were not given the choice as to whether they want to join various activities such as saying grace before a meal.

Britt Marie MÃ¥rtensson, the kindergarten's manager, maintained that the Education Act "can be interpreted in different ways" and thought that praying at mealtimes would not constitute "education."

"As a confessional activity, we knew we could no longer have prayer time while children are at their desks where they learn, so we thought we would add grace as a nice feature during mealtimes. We interpreted the law differently from the municipality," she said according to Breitbart, citing Swedish National Broadcaster STV.

MÃ¥rtensson said that children at the preschool now sing a rhyme thanking the sun and rain at mealtimes, instead of saying grace.

"It's sad because grace is a tradition, but the rhyme is also nice and it allows the kids to choose to whom and what they want to give thanks," she went on to say.

The staff at the preschool were also forbidden from holding an activity called "Bible Snacktimes," where children and teachers discuss the contents of the Bible.

Pian Rosell, the preschool strategy planner at Umeå Municipality, explained that confessional elements are permitted in religious kindergartens and schools, but they must not play any part in educational activities. However, she admitted that the Education Act is not clear when it comes to guiding preschools.

"It isn't as hard to distinguish between activities which are educational and ones which aren't in elementary schools, because teaching happens in class, whereas when it comes to kindergartens it can be difficult to tell," she said.

Last year, a Swedish preschool drew media attention after a child was punished for not saying "Amen."

A 3-year-old child was reportedly made to remain seated at a table with a teacher, while other children were outside playing, until a parent arrived at 4 p.m.

The Christian preschool was said to have a practice of not allowing children leave the table if they did not say grace or Amen. The school has sent a letter to the local municipality, explaining that the incident was not part of a repeated practice as claimed, and that they had apologized repeatedly for it.