COURT DECISIONS ON PRAYERS DURING GRADUATION CEREMONIES AT U.S. PUBLIC SCHOOLS
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Some older court rulings:
Essentially all prayers led by a public school official or a clergyperson from the
community appear to be unconstitutional. Court rulings on the
constitutionality of student-initiated, student-led prayers are
contradictory:
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1992: USA: Supreme Court ruling: In the case of Lee v.
Weisman [U.S., 112 S. Ct. 2649 (1992)], the U.S. Supreme Court ruled
that employees of a public school district may not induce, endorse,
assist, nor promote prayer at their graduation ceremonies. This would
forbid prayers presented by a school principal, a teacher, or a
clergyperson from
the community. Judge Anthony Kennedy prepared the majority opinion. He
wrote that the "Constitution forbids the State to exact
religious conformity from a student as the price of attending her own
high school graduation."
The school principal in this case had decided to include an invocation
and benediction during the ceremony. He chose a clergyperson from the
community to give these prayers and provided him with a copy of a National
Council of Christians and Jew's publication "Guidelines
for Civic Occasions." It contains suggestions for the
delivery of non-sectarian prayers.
The court did not rule on two questions:
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Whether student-initiated
and student-led prayer is constitutional. As of 2002-JAN, the Supreme
Court still has yet to rule on this specific matter. Lower courts have issued
conflicting rulings. |
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Whether this ruling was for public schools
only, or would also govern graduation prayers at colleges and universities. |
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1992: Student led graduation prayers OK: The 5th Circuit
Court of Appeals ruled that a graduation prayer in Texas, Louisiana
and Mississippi would be constitutional if:
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The prayer was approved by most of the graduating class. |
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The prayer was given by a student. |
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The prayer must be "nonsectarian." It is not
clear what the court meant by this word. Strictly speaking, this
could mean that a prayer could not mention God, because followers
of some
religions do not recognize a personal God: Buddhism and Unitarian
Universalism are two examples. |
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The prayer must be "non-proselytizing." Again,
it is not clear what is meant by this term. |
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1995: Student led graduation prayers not OK: The 3rd Circuit
Court of Appeals issued a ruling that essentially negated the 1992
ruling by the 5th circuit court. |
Recent actions by schools and audiences:
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1994-NOV-22: California: School board allows student-initiated
prayer: The Ventura, CA, unified school district issued a policy
stating that it would "...neither endorse prayers at
graduation ceremonies, nor condemn such prayers when they are made in
accordance with law." Clergy and other non-students would not
be allowed to give a prayer. However, students on their own initiative
would be allowed to give a non-sectarian and non-proselytizing prayer
if that is their wish. A disclaimer would have to be printed in the
program stating: "In accordance with Board policy 5127.1, the
district disclaims that any prayer offered at a graduation ceremony
reflects any official opinion or attitude of the district or its
Board. Any such prayer is a personal statement of the individual
giving the prayer." 3 |
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1997-JUN: Pennsylvania: Christians object to prayer ban: Two
parents of students graduating in Rocky Grove, PA, organized a meeting
at a local church to object to the school districts' ban on organized
prayer. Brooke Wentworth, an Atheist, had told the school board that
prayers at graduation would violate her constitutional rights. One
purpose of the meeting was to organize a prayer service to be held
right before the graduation ceremony. Others came to organize a legal
challenge to the American Civil Liberties Union who had threatened to
sue the board if it allowed prayers. One parent said: "If we
sit down and squelch this, we are no better than the oppressed Jews
when Hitler took over. We are asking them to come and hide away their
belief in Christ." Two other parents said that Brooke Wentworth
was doing "Satan’s work." One said: "This country was
founded on Jesus Christ and Wentworth is being led by the devil."
Another said: "This is nothing but the devil working against
Christ. I am a red-blooded American. The Constitution gives me the
right to pray anywhere and I shall do it." 4 |
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1998-MAY-5: Montana: School board bans prayer: Melissa
Vandehey petitioned the school board in Stevensvile, MT to allow
prayers at her graduation ceremony. A poll of fellow students found
that 70% either favored or would tolerate prayer. She said that "The
proposed prayer will include a thank you to the Lord for the friends
we have made, the memories we shared, and the time we have been
together. Also, it will contain a blessing for the future plans of
each member of the class." In a 3 - 3 vote, the board
retained the existing ban. |
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1999-APR-19: Florida: State passes prayer bill: House Bill 1773 was passed by the
Florida House Judiciary Committee. If made into law, it will allow school districts to
impose a "brief opening or closing message, or both" at all
noncompulsory activities. This would presumably include school assemblies, football games,
graduation ceremonies and similar events. The content of the message was not specified.
The original bill was amended to allow "inspirational messages"
including "a prayer or invocation," if a majority of students present
requested it. Carole shields, president of People for the American Way commented:
"There is nothing neutral about this bill. Students of minority faiths should
not, and under our Constitution cannot, be forced to choose between missing a school
activity or being held captive to the denominational prayers of a majority. This is an
offensive and disturbing attack on the First Amendment." 1
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1999-MAY-18: Florida: School board appeals court ban: A panel
of three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th circuit
had previously voted 2 to 1 to ban student-led prayers at high
school graduation ceremonies. The case was Emily Adler, et. al.
vs. the Duval County School Board, et al., vs. Susan Boles, et. al. The
Duval County School Board in
Jacksonville, FL, had set up a system in which students would decide
whether there would be a graduation message or not. Students would
also decide who would speak. The speakers themselves would have
complete autonomy over the content of their speeches. The school board
voted to appeal the decision to the full
court. See below. |
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1999-MAY-19: Idaho: Court lets prayer policy stand: The Madison
School District in Idaho had a policy covering graduation ceremonies:
"The school administration may invite graduating students to
participate in high school graduation exercises according to academic
class standing... Students selected to participate may choose to
deliver an address, poem, reading, song, musical presentation, prayer
or any other pronouncement of their choosing." The family of
a graduating student protested. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals found that the policy was constitutional. The entire
court then heard the case. They decided that the family had no
standing to sue, since they could not identify any tax money that was
being used to implement the policy. Besides, the case was moot because
the student had already graduated. |
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1999-JUN-7: Maryland: Audience forces prayer: Nick Becker, a
student at Northern High School in Calvert County, objected to a
prayer during the graduation ceremony. After accepting the advice of the American
Civil Liberties Union, the school decided to substitute a moment
of silence. A man in the audience, a Southern Baptist pastor Douglas
Myers, interrupted the moment of silence, and started to recite the
Lord's Prayer loudly. Others in the audience joined him. County Commissioner
President Linda Kelley, an attendee, joined in the recitation of the
Lord's Prayer. At a later interview, she rejected the authority of the
courts, saying: "This is a churchgoing community, and no one
in Annapolis or Washington, D.C., is going to tell us when and where
we can pray." 5 |
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2000-MAR-16: Florida: Court overturns its own
decision: The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th circuit
reversed an earlier decision made by a panel of three of its own
judges. It decided that the Duval County School Board in
Jacksonville, FL had organized the
graduation ceremony as a "public forum." Thus any prayer would
be constitutional; it would be considered a private, not a state, action. Executive
Director Phil Baum of the American Jewish Congress stated: "We are disappointed that
the full panel has declared that a majority could impose their will on
a minority and compel others to listen to prayers that are offensive
to some. We
believe that the decision was a mistake and that it should be
overturned by the United States Supreme Court." 6 |
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2001-MAR-4: California: Graduation address about Jesus: A
California high school valedictorian was barred by his public school
from delivering a graduation speech in which he was going to ask the
audience to "accept God's love" and live by "Jesus'
example." He appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, who
refused to consider it. They gave no reason for their rejection. This
leaves the lower court ruling intact -- that such speech violates the
separation of church and state. 2 |
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2002-DEC-10: Florida: U.S. Supreme Court declined to review case:
This action lets stand the U.S. Court of Appeals decision which
found school prayer at graduation ceremonies to be legal.
Public Citizen submitted a friend of the court brief which said: "The
clear purpose of the challenged policy is to preserve a tradition of
prayer at graduation." Lawyers for the school board said that the
policy: "neither establishes nor prohibits religious speech. It
merely permits graduating senior classes to decide whether or not to
include an unrestricted message as part of their ceremonies." The
court ordered the appeals court to review their decision. The case is:
Adler v. Duval County School Board, 01-287. 7 |
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2003-FEB-19: California: Federal appeals court edits graduation
speech: Nicholas Lassonde, was a co-salutatorian for the 1999
graduating class of Amador Valley High School in the San
Francisco Bay area, He wanted to include a long Bible passage in his
speech, along with a description of eternal life through Jesus as "the
gift of God." Referring to his conservative religious belief that
the vast majority of humans spend eternity being tortured in Hell, he
had planned to ask the audience: "Have you accepted the gift, or will
you pay the ultimate price?" School principal Bill Coupe had
instructed him to remove sections of his speech which he considered to
be religious proselytizing. The Pleasanton Unified School District
and the principal had decided that this text would have placed the
district in possible violation of both the Federal and California
constitutions. However, the principal allowed some religious references
to be included. Lassonde mentioned that his grandfather had recently
died had gone "home to be with the Lord." He ended his speech
with the words, "God bless and good luck." He delivered the
censored speech, mentioned to his audience that portions had been taken
out, and said that he would hand out copies of the original complete
text afterwards. Lassonde sued, claiming that his freedom of speech
rights had been violated. He lost, and unsuccessfully appealed the case
to a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The
ruling said, in part: "Regardless of any offered disclaimer, a
reasonable dissenter still could feel that there is no choice but to
participate in the proselytizing in order to attend a high school
graduation. Although a disclaimer arguably distances school officials
from 'sponsoring' the speech, it does not change the fact that
proselytizing amounts to a religious practice that the school district
may not coerce other students to participate in, even while looking the
other way...Plaintiff, who is a devout Christian, drafted a speech that
quoted extensively from the Bible. In his declaration, Plaintiff
explained that he intended for the speech to 'express his desire for
fellow graduates to develop a personal relationship with God through
faith in Christ in order to better their lives.' "
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2006-MAY-19: Kentucky: Graduation
ceremony prayer blocked: Judge Joseph H. McKinley of the U.S.
District Court in Bowling Green issued a
temporary restraining order that blocked the inclusion of a Christian
prayer as part of the graduation ceremonies at Russell County High
School later that day. The American Civil Liberties Union had
filed the suit on behalf of an unidentified student.
ACLU lawyer Lili Lutgens said of the student:
"He did not feel that he should have to sit through
government-sponsored prayer just to receive his diploma." Graduation
ceremonies in previous years involved "sectarian Christian
invocations and benedictions given by students," that referred to "God"
and "Jesus." The student had
previously asked the principal and other school district officials to
cancel the prayer, but his request was reportedly denied.
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Senior students elected Megan Chapman to give a "message"
at the graduation. She was involved in the Fellowship of Christian
Athletes. In her talk, she mentioned that God had guided her since
childhood. She urged her classmates to trust in God in their future
lives. She was repeatedly interrupted by applause. Since this was a
message of her own creation, it would presumably be protected under the
First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The complaining student has been identified only as John Doe because he
fears retaliation, presumably from Christian students, if his identity
becomes known. At the evening graduation ceremony,
about 200 seniors stood during the principal's opening remarks and
recited the Lord's Prayer. This triggered a standing ovation from the
standing-room only crowd in the school gymnasium. Megan Chapman plans to
appeal the injunction with the help of the Fundamentalist Christian
legal group, Liberty Counsel so that future graduation ceremonies can
include Christian prayers. Lili Lutgens said: "This
case is not about whether people can pray. It's about families and
individuals deciding for themselves whether, when and how to pray. Our
founders intended that these sorts of religious decisions be made by
individuals and families, not government."
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Related essays on this web site:
References:
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Press release, "Pitting faith against faith: Florida bill would sow
division in public schools," People for the American Way, 1999-APR-9
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Anne Gearan, "Court to decide same-site case,"
Associated Press, 2001-MAR-5.
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"Graduation ceremony prayer," Ventura Unified
School District, at: http://www.vtusd.k12.ca.us/policy/id712.htm
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"PA graduation prayer controversy continues,"
American Civil Liberties Union, at: http://www.aclu.org/news/w060397c.html
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"Graduation ceremony crowd rejects prayer ban,"
Evangelical Press News Service," at: http://www.mcjonline.com/news/news3141.htm
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"AJCongress says federal appeals court should not have
overturned ruling that Florida graduation ceremonies imposed prayers
on religious minorities." American Jewish Congress, at: http://www.ajcongress.org/pages/RELS2000/
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"Supreme Court will not reconsider prayer at graduation case,"
Fox News, 2001-DEC-10, at:
http://www.foxnews.com/story
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"Court says no religion in grad speech," UPI, 2003-FEB-19,
at:
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?
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"Judge blocks prayer at graduation ceremony," Associated Press,
2006-MAY-19, at:
http://www.whas11.com/
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Peter Smith, "Graduates stage protest prayer. Judge had ruled against
Russell plan," Courier-Journal, 2006-MAY-20. Louisville, KY, at:
http://www.courier-journal.com/
Copyright © 2001 to 2006 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally written: 2001-MAR-6
Latest update: 2006-MAY-22
Author: B.A. Robinson
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