Graduation Prayer at Lakeview High School

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

First Amendment of the United States Constitution

Despite knowing full well what the US Constitution says about government sponsored respect for specific establishments of religion, many public schools in this country try to get around it by either hoping for the ignorance of its students and their parents, or finding loopholes in this system. Case precedent has, of course, found that any school sponsored prayer is unconstitutional. Recently in history, students or their parents have started bringing this violation up with those usually rural schools more often who have been violating the First Amendment for years and sometimes decades. When the school attempts to ignore these students and parents, the typical course of action is contacting the ACLU and sometimes the FFRF to have them file a complaint. Sometimes it takes a letter from one of these organizations threatening lawsuit to get the schools to make changes, sometimes an actual lawsuit is needed.

Many Christians who are in favor of school sponsored prayer in school or at school events will try to argue that they want it done in favor of that next part of the First Amendment which states, "congress shall make no law...prohibiting the free exercise of [religion]." That part of the First Amendment does allow students to conduct prayer freely on school grounds, which no one is trying to prevent, but it does not allow a public school, as a government organization, to sponsor it thereby forcing religion on any students who may not wish to participate. That part of the amendment has also provided the loophole which was used in the Damon Fowler case for prayer to exist in that particular graduation ceremony. In that case, while the school backed down from promoting the prayer and opted for a moment of silence instead, the graduating senior who was elected to open the ceremony with the moment of silence said a prayer.

The reason it is important to maintain a separation of church and state in public schools is that they are funded by tax dollars. Tax dollars which every American citizen pays. Since America was created as a secular nation because our founding fathers did not want a government which favored one religion over another such as that which happened in the country they fled from, they made sure that the establishment clause was right there in the First Amendment. This makes us free to be a country of Christians, Jews, Mormons, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, people unaffiliated with religion altogether, and any other category of religious belief or non-belief. All of these categories pay our taxes which fund our public schools and the agreement that we have to make this secular integration of many and no faiths possible is that government institution must not favor any one over any other.

The reason this has come to my attention once again is that a school just outside my hometown of Columbus, Nebraska is testing the establishment clause once again. Lakeview High School has decided to not hold a graduation ceremony, instead letting the parents of the graduating class organize the event:

Lakeview Community Schools is taking precautions to protect itself against a potential lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union.

The district's board of education unanimously approved language changes to the facilities use policy Monday night in an attempt to separate itself from the graduation ceremony, which has come under fire because of prayers held during the annual event.

The policy now clearly states the district's stance that it does not sponsor or endorse the content or message of any activity that's held in school facilities by an outside group.

"To ensure that the public understands this fact, the indemnifier agrees to not make any statements suggesting such sponsorship and to publish statements of non-school sponsorship," as requested by the district, one change states.

This action was taken by the school after legal council suggested it to the superintendent who received a complaint letter from ALCU Nebraska in November. The school graduation then took the form of a strictly voluntary private event put on by parents who rent out the schools gymnasium and invite the students of the graduating class as well as school board members and faculty.

But ACLU Nebraska is arguing that this is still a church/state separation violation:

However, ACLU Nebraska believes court decision have made it clear that separation of church and state applies to public school graduations, regardless of whether they are voluntary or conducted by an outside group.

"It is perfectly acceptable to have a truly private graduation ceremony as a supplement to the official, school-sponsored event," Miller said in a release. "What is happening at Lakeview High is a sham separation and therefore unconstitutional."

The ACLU is asking Lakeview to remove prayer from the graduation ceremony, reserving the religious activity for baccalaureate, a voluntary event typically held the night before.

It is uncertain how this will play out. I would imagine, if they leave the graduation as planned, ACLU Nebraska will file lawsuit and the courts will decide from there. But again, this is just a loophole designed to get around the intention of the First Amendment. The law is meant to be inclusive to all Americans including these students, but the people trying to keep prayer in their ceremony are trying to exclude anyone who does not subscribe to their beliefs by making them left out of a particular part of the ceremony.

I am well aware that some overzealously religious groups like to think that their interpretation of their ancient text is more important and supersedes the constitution which has allowed and continues to allow them the freedom to practice their religion without persecution. They think that leveling the playing field for everyone is, in fact, a form of persecution against them. It is demonstrably not.

Furthermore, if we do want to look to the Bible to find out what Jesus thinks should be done in this case, I would direct those Christians who would impose their prayer on those who want no part of it to Matthew 6:5-6:

5 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

If at this point anyone still cannot see what the problem is, I have one more exercise for you. Imagine this whole situation play out again, but instead of having the parents of Christians handle the ceremony, think of the parents of Muslims planing a prayer to Allah during the opening ceremony. Perhaps then you will see how you are making minorities feel.