Judge Blocks School Graduation Prayers

Newsmax.com ^ | 5/19/06

[Gordongekko909]

Ahh, the ACLU. Fighting for Americans' liberty to, umm... face massive government interference whenever they try to do anything.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Don't we pay for their damned lawsuits? Are they tax-exempt?

[Gordongekko909]

Bah. The ACLU was founded by socialists, for socialists. Observe.

[Dante3]

An unidentified student? I thought if someone sued, their identity became public record.

Anyway, Judge Joseph McKinley becomes a nominee to the Judges Hall of Shame.

[Severa]

I graduated high school in 1995, Spencer County High School, Taylorsville KY. Up until then (I don't know if this is the case now) it was a tradition that a few days before the graduation ceremony there would be a Baaculaureate. It was an expected thing, completely voluntary, and as far as I could remember, NO ONE had a problem with it. My school also had the Ten Commandments hanging in at least a handful of classrooms. My how things have changed in such a short amount of time...

[GBA]

Do it any way! Say the prayer and pay the fine or go to jail or whatever the penalty is, but say the graduation prayers.

[do the dhue]

They are trying to remove God from our public view for a reason. If God is removed, who will remember that we have God given rights (inalienable rights) not man or government given rights? These people trying to remove God from our public view are evil and must be stopped.

[sanjacjake]

Hee is a way to make them angry..the whole class
on the signal...pepper...all sneeze at once...and
all say: GOD BLESS YOU.... jAKE

[SF Republican]

argued that any prayer would be unconstitutional because it would endorse a specific religion and religious views let me see, Christians pray, Muslims pray, Jews pray...

[ExTexasRedhead]

This is going to continue until the American people wake up and say "no more." Slowly, all our liberties are being eroded and the silent majority is still silent. People better wake up pronto.

[Revel]

Sue the judge.

[Elpasser]

Such grave and weighty issues our federal courts deal with ...!

[Steve_Seattle]

I still maintain that an interpretation of the Constitution which pits the "free exercise" clause against the "establishment" clause cannot be the correct interpretation. Applying the 1st Amendment to the states uttterly inverts its meaning. It was intended as a curb on federal power, i.e., "Congress shall make no law . . ."; now it is used to bring federal authority into purely local matters.

[Steve_Seattle]

"NO ONE had a problem with it."

Even if someone had a problem with it, it should make no difference as far as the Constitution is concerned. Sometimes in life we have to listen to things that we disagree with. I had to suffer through Sen. Patty Murray speaking at one of my kids' graduation ceremonies, but that doesn't mean she shouldn't have been allowed to speak, or that there was something illegal about it.

[Jacquerie]

Another so-called "judge" who thinks that he has been designated as the local god and that the First Amendment does not apply to American citizens.

Well said. The second portion of the establishment clause reads, "(n)or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The very amendment designed to protect our religious rights has been turned on its head to proscribe religious freedom. It is way past time to challenge the black robes. I hope the graduates figuratively flip off the tyrant judge and publicly pray.

[GSWarrior]

Isn't that what Baccalaureate is for? Do schools still have that?

[pointsal]

Give the potential listeners...ear plugs.

[pabianice]

The ACLU: stoking anti-Semitism since 1936

[Polybius]

What would happen if a group of students stood and said The Lord's Prayer, and others joined in???

That would be a Constitutional right under the Free Exercise Clause.

[jude24]

The second portion of the establishment clause reads, "(n)or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

Nobody is prohibited from praying on their own time. The First Amendment prohibits the government from establishing a forum.

Please stop pinging me every time the law does something you don't like because you don't understand it. Don't pretend you know it all just because you read the Constitution in high school.