Prayer conducted at official graduation ceremony

[Six Billion of Spades]

Last week, my high school held its official commencement exercises, in which, I'm proud to say, I officially started my "parole." What I'm not proud to say, however, is that I graduated in an atmosphere of coerced religion. A prayer was conducted before commencement began, and as if that wasn't enough, another was given in dismissal. I've heard several different opinions on this, ranging from the all-too-common-around-where-I-live "Yes, because without Jesus how can you manage your life?" to the more reasonable "No, because it's against the Establishment Clause" to even "Why does it matter?", which, most of the time, is really just a badly disguised "yes."

Because this school is part of a public school district, prayer has no place in its graduation ceremony. Some students can't afford to attend private school, and some just may have their own beliefs, so why should they be forced to attend a school which establishes an official religion?

The purpose of a belt is to hold up one's pants. But the Bible Belt has a recurring habit of dropping its collective pants and mooning - in the most subtle way possible - people who choose to hold up their pants with a belt of equality.

What are your thoughts on this? How would you react if your school incorporated prayer into their commencement exercises?  

[Calypsophia]

hi there,

could you not report something like that to the ACLU?  

[Cirosan]

What really pisses me off is how they're ready and willing to override the Constitution - the most sacred document in the country - for a trivial prayer ceremony. I don't care who are, I don't care what you're doing, if you're in America, you don't get to override the Constitution for anything.  

[Tenth Speed Writer]

What's the demographic breakdown for religion in your school?  

[Jessica Malatori]

Psh. I hate that... "Without Jesus how can you manage your life?"

Are they ever able to comprehend that humans are capable of things without the aid of a divine being, let alone Jesus? Unless, of course you have a secretary named Jesus... then he might be helping manage you life lmfao.  

[Arios V]

If the school had been a private school, I would probably consider it somewhat acceptable, of course that would depend on what type of school it was.

Since it was a public school, they shouldn't have recited a prayer. I believe there was a US Supreme Court case that says that this sort of thing is unconstitutional. Then again, almost nobody seems to give a s**t about these sort of things as they turn the Constitution into a doormat.


If my school did this, I would just say "This is bullshit." get my diploma and leave  

[Death God Hitsugaya]

If my school did this... Well, I'm the only one who would be pissed off (Anyone know the Canadian take on Religious freedom?), but I would probably complain unless it was the graduation. If it's the grad, take the diploma and wave them goodbye with everyone's favorite finger.  

[Tenth Speed Writer]

As annoying as it is to have to sit through a religion-based ceremony (And believe me, I would know), there isn't any point in complaining if the intended audience is almost entirely Christian.

I could just as easily ask that they stop the morning prayer at my school for myself and the two or three agnostics around, but what would that do but upset the other 897 theist students?  

[Six Billion of Spades]

Tenth Speed Writer

As annoying as it is to have to sit through a religion-based ceremony (And believe me, I would know), there isn't any point in complaining if the intended audience is almost entirely Christian.

I could just as easily ask that they stop the morning prayer at my school for myself and the two or three agnostics around, but what would that do but upset the other 897 theist students?

Yeah, I didn't say anything at the time; I just walked across the stage and got my diploma, no questions asked. It didn't seem worth it to ruin the entire ceremony over what would seem to be kind of a trivial issue.

Of course, more than 85% of my school is Christian. Although there are quite a few atheists, agnostics, and open-minded people all over the school. But when you're discussing a breach of the Constitution, demographics don't matter; a largely Christian school has no more right to undermine the Constitution than does a more diversified school. The Constitution is the Constitution. Not toilet paper. End of story.

I also happened to find the decision of a court case on a similar issue, in which a rabbi was invited to offer the prayer: Lee vs. Weisman. Fortunately, it turned out to be a victory for non-establishment.

lilraine

could you not report something like that to the ACLU?

As far as I know, that's the best place to report stuff like this. In fact, I'm working on a letter to the ACLU right now. Coercion to participate in religious activities and appearance of respecting the establishment of religion should be strong enough ammo. I'll post the letter here when I'm done, if anyone's interested.  

[Meirelle]

What kind of prayer, exactly, did they say?

Was it some kind of generic "omg thanx god 4 me gradumawating" or was it, like, hardcore?  

[Six Billion of Spades]

Meirelle

What kind of prayer, exactly, did they say?

Was it some kind of generic "omg thanx god 4 me gradumawating" or was it, like, hardcore?

It was something like "God lead our graduates down the right path and be with them every step of the way" or something. And you know what that means. State-sponsored religion, anyone?  

[The Saxonaut]

Ugh, I just hate stuff like that. I had to deal with participating in prayer when I was at this one school in kindergarden. I didn't care about it as much back then, but now I just cringe about it. If I was in your shoes i'd just not pray. I mean, most of the peoples eyes are closed and whatnot anyway. xp  

[Alphabet Whore]

Man, they'd never do something like that at my old school. Not many people = minorities (it was a charter) = offensive. But my little brother walked out from his class because they were teaching Jesus and the Bible in his history class.  

[ProjectOmicron88]

I would have probably went up, gone through the diplomas, found mine, and left. Not because I'm intolerant, but I would want to make a point.  

[Tenth Speed Writer]

ProjectOmicron88

I would have probably went up, gone through the diplomas, found mine, and left. Not because I'm intolerant, but I would want to make a point.

To be frank, the only point you would make is that you're an a*****e.