Posted on 05/31/2002 7:43:36 AM PDT by CFW
Schools to be told to halt invocations at commencements
The St. Albans High School Class of 2002 wasn’t going to let an atheist and a federal judge spoil their graduation ceremony Thursday night.
More than 100 students stood, bowed their heads and recited the Lord’s Prayer, after a federal judge’s court order blocked a school-sanctioned invocation.
Parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers in the audience gave the students a standing ovation.
“You aren’t going to fool kids,” said Kanawha County school board member Jim Crawford, who lives in St. Albans.
Two hours earlier, U.S. District Court Judge John T. Copenhaver ruled that the proposed school-sanctioned prayer to be read at the graduation ceremony violated the Constitution’s establishment clause, which provides for the separation of government and religion.
The decision also will stop school-sanctioned prayers at other Kanawha County high school graduation ceremonies later this week. The school system’s attorney planned to advise principals to cancel their invocations.
“This is a great victory for the Bill of Rights and schools,” said Tyler Deveny, an 18-year-old St. Albans senior who filed suit against the school’s principal and school board members to stop the prayer. “This shows that one person can make a difference even when the majority is against you.”
In his decision, Copenhaver said Kanawha County school system regulations that permit nonsectarian prayer were “plainly invalid” and “serve to entangle the government with religion in constitutionally repugnant ways.”
Copenhaver noted that St. Albans students didn’t vote to have the prayer, only senior class officers.
“The public interest weighs in favor of protecting a student’s First Amendment right to be free from the unwanted intrusion of religion at a school-sponsored graduation,” Copenhaver wrote in the 14-page opinion.
Deveny, an atheist, didn’t attend the graduation Thursday night at the Civic Center in Charleston. He stayed home.
“I have no use for that pretentious, self-
congratulatory ceremony,” he said. “To me, this ruling is much more significant.”
At the start of Thursday night’s ceremony, the school’s JROTC marched out with the American flag.
“God Bless America,” a parent shouted from the bleachers.
“Amen!” the crowd responded.
During the Pledge of Allegiance, students and parents said “under God” just a little bit louder.
Teacher Ross Harrison announced, “By court order, we’ve been enjoined from having an invocation. We invite you to have a moment of silence.”
Seconds later, one senior stood, clasped his hands in prayer and looked above. About half of the 226 graduating seniors — girls in red robes, boys in black — joined him in reciting the Lord’s Prayer. They shouted out the last part: “For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.”
At a hearing in federal court Thursday morning, Deveny’s lawyers released the proposed prayer, which was written by senior class vice president Mike Ervin and approved by the principal.
One passage stated, “[Father] ... You are the reason we are here and everyone needs to acknowledge that.”
“It serves to describe a view of God as an active force that guides people’s lives,” said Alex Luchenitser, an attorney with Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “There are many religions that don’t agree with those views.”
The senior class officers had voted unanimously to have prayer at graduation. Nobody could remember a time before Thursday night when St. Albans didn’t have a school-sponsored prayer at graduation.
“This is something the kids wanted,” said Principal Tom Williams.
Students criticized the judge’s decision. “It’s democracy. It needs to be that majority rules,” said Justin Waybright, who graduated Thursday night.
Paula Gillenwater stood outside the Civic Center after the ceremony, holding signs that said, “Honk for prayer. God bless our kids.” Students and parents hammered their truck and car horns.
“They’re really hungry to get God back in our schools,” Gillenwater said.
Staff writer Park Chong Ju contributed to this story.
To contact staff writer Eric Eyre, use e-mail or call 348-5194.
Okay, so he stopped the other students from having a prayer at a ceremony he had no intention of ever attending?
Had no plans to go to the party, but crapped in the punchbowl anyway. And this little quote is proof that "self-congratulation" is not limited to graduation ceremonies.
What a hypocritical little prig.
Amazing. The guy doesn't even attend the ceremony that he filed suit against to get a prayer censored. This is more proof that a significant number of atheists are not merely content in their own beliefs, they have the need to meddle in other people's lives.
But at least the students showed him and the judge what they could do with the ruling. I always enjoy reading about open defiance of this non consitutional rulings.
Why don't they go meddle in the Muslims' lives?
I would suspect a combination of hypocricy and cowardice.
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