{"id":520492,"date":"2026-01-16T13:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T13:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/520492\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T13:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T13:56:12","slug":"faith-leaders-against-school-prayer-jan-16-2026-houston-public-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/520492\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith leaders against school prayer (Jan. 16, 2026) \u2013 Houston Public Media"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-530383 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/HMCC-Featured-Image-Dark-Blue-2025-1000x563.jpg\" alt=\"A mint green skyline against a dark blue background with the words Houston Matters with Craig Cohen in white\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\"   data-eio=\"p\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Houston Matters begins at 9 a.m. CT on 88.7FM. You can also <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/app1.kuhf.org\/player\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">listen online<\/a> or <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@HoustonPublicMedia\/streams\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">watch live on YouTube<\/a>. Join the discussion. Call or text 713-440-8870. Email <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonpublicmedia.org\/articles\/shows\/houston-matters\/2026\/01\/16\/540666\/faith-leaders-against-school-prayer-jan-16-2026\/mailto:talk@houstonmatters.org\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">talk@houstonmatters.org<\/a> or tag us <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HoustonMatters\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> @HoustonMatters<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On Friday\u2019s show: More than 160 Texas faith leaders are <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonpublicmedia.org\/articles\/news\/religion\/2026\/01\/09\/540410\/more-than-160-texas-faith-leaders-urge-school-boards-to-oppose-setting-aside-time-for-prayer-bible-readings\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">urging school boards<\/a> to reject a new state-organized prayer law. <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.emanuelhouston.org\/people\/rabbi-joshua-r-s-fixler\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Rabbi Joshua Fixler<\/a> of Houston\u2019s Congregation Emanu El explains why he and the other faith leaders say SB 11, which carves out time for prayer and Bible readings in public schools, threatens religious freedom.<\/p>\n<p>Sign up for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonpublicmedia.org\/hellohouston\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Hello, Houston!<\/a> daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>Also this hour: We conclude our week-long Houston 2026 series with a look at the year ahead in transportation.<\/p>\n<p>Then, from a unified Martin Luther King Day parade, to Matthew McConaughey trademarking catchphrases, we break down <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonpublicmedia.org\/topics\/good-bad-ugly\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly<\/a> of the week.<\/p>\n<p>And we learn how a singing group of teenage girls from southeast Texas called <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/tyrrellhistoricallibrary.contentdm.oclc.org\/digital\/collection\/p16058coll33\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The Melody Maids<\/a> traveled the world to perform for troops from World War II to Vietnam. A <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.melodymaidsmovie.com\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">new documentary<\/a> tells their story, and a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/beaumonteventstx.com\/event\/the-melody-maids-movie-7pm-showing\/%20\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">pair of screenings<\/a> will be held on Saturday in Beaumont.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Audio from today\u2019s show will be available after 11 a.m. CT. We also offer a free podcast <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonpublicmedia.org\/podcasts\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/houston-matters-podcast\/id642557771?mt=2\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">on iTunes<\/a>, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/app.stitcher.com\/browse\/feed\/37496\/details\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Stitcher<\/a> and other apps.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston Matters begins at 9 a.m. CT on 88.7FM. You can also listen online or watch live on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":215937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5130],"tags":[231814,434,16304,4345,16305,231815,231816,425,75753,229648,50,231817,83273,160239,3996,358,42353,231818,85664,3187,41048],"class_list":["post-520492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-congregation-emanu-el","tag-documentaries","tag-full-show","tag-houston","tag-houston-matters","tag-houston-mlk-parade","tag-joshua-fixler","tag-local","tag-matthew-mcconaughey","tag-mlk-parade","tag-news","tag-prayer-in-schools","tag-religious-freedom","tag-sb-11","tag-shows","tag-texas","tag-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly","tag-the-melody-maids","tag-the-vietnam-war","tag-tx","tag-world-war-ii"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115905127028602919","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}