Prayer conducted at official graduation ceremony

[Baron von Turkeypants]

I graduated high school last week, and I went to a parochial school. Prayer wasn't uncommon; it was actually expected. It wasn't the prayer that got to me, but the senior mass, where our bishop gave his sermon on what the "wise-man" does. Apparently, only religious people are "wise" since wise men respect God rolleyes  

[Xiporah]

I'd react how I normally do during group prayers. Eyes open. Head slightly raised and remain quiet. Or if it really starts getting to me, I leave the room.

 

[God of lunchboxes]

"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."

Best, quote, ever. biggrin That's a keeper. In any case what was done there was purely despicable, fascist forced rhetoric. I’d be fine with prayer in school if all beliefs were represented; atheism already has multiple rooms, The Biology Lab, Chem. Lab, and Physics station.  

[ProjectOmicron88]

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.

Okay, I'd ASK for the diploma instead of rifling through all of them. razz

But basically, there's no reason anyone should have to sit through a speech for that long about religion. If it's not about our futures or what we can accomplish, it's not a commencement speech. If it's about God, it's a sermon. And needless to say, I don't go to church. A "God bless you" at the end or something, that's okay. But don't bring Jesus into your graduation. He had nothing to do with it. You passed the exams and you made your GPA. End of story.

To be honest, I would probably chicken out at the last second. My dad would have killed me if I pulled something like that when I graduated high school.