JEFFERSON CITY • A proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to privately pray in public places, including schools, unanimously cleared the Missouri Senate on Tuesday and will appear on the ballot in November 2012.

If approved by voters, the amendment will prohibit government or school officials from adopting policies to prevent prayer in public places, as long as the prayer does not result in disturbance of the peace or disruption of a public meeting or assembly.

It also says students shall not be compelled to perform or participate in academic assignments or educational presentations that violate their religious beliefs.

Critics of the legislation point out that the right to pray in public is already protected by the U.S. Constitution and that the Missouri Constitution says citizens have the "right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own conscience."

Because of the protections in the state constitution, Democrats decided not to stand in the way of the amendment, said Sen. Jolie Justus, D-Kansas City.

"This was such a meaningless amendment, we just didn't feel like we needed to put forth the effort to stop it this year," Justus said. "It doesn't do anything at all, so I just decided to focus on trying to stop bills that actually do harm."

The House has passed a version of the amendment for the last five years, and each time it died in the Senate. This year, however, the legislation faced no opposition at all in the Senate, a fact that came as a shock to the bill's House sponsor, Republican Rep. Mike McGhee of Odessa.

"I'm actually at a loss for words," McGhee said shortly after the bill passed. "I'm in awe that it was unanimous. I knew it was coming up, but I had no idea if it would pass."

McGhee said he sponsored the legislation for five straight years because of a fear that government would use the separation of church and state as a reason to keep people from privately praying on public property.

"If voters approve this, it will send a message that the citizens of the state believe it's OK to read a Bible in study hall," McGhee said. "That it's OK to pray briefly before a City Council meeting. That's what we were trying to do by bringing this amendment forward."