Some Youth are Still Good and Decent: 400 Students Defy ACLU in Prayers

[MasterWolf1]

www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jun/09060510.html
 
400 Students Defy ACLU and Stand to Recite Lord's Prayer at Graduation

By John Jalsevac

SANTA ROSA COUNTY, FL, June 4, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Nearly 400 graduating seniors at Pace High School stood up in protest against the ACLU and recited the Lord’s Prayer during their graduation ceremony last Saturday. Many of the students also painted crosses on their graduation caps to make a statement of faith. (To watch a video of the prayer, click here)

The prayerful protest by the students comes on the heels of a lawsuit the ACLU filed against the Santa Rosa County School District, claiming some of the teachers and administration endorsed religion. The suit was filed on behalf of two students, who said that the teachers were promoting their views of religion.

The two teachers at Pace High School were Principal Frank Lay and school teacher Michelle Winkler. The ACLU alleges that during a dinner event held at the school, Principal Lay asked the athletic director to bless the meal. In another incident, the ACLU alleges that Michelle Winkler’s husband, who is not a school board employee, offered prayer at an awards ceremony

According to the ACLU lawsuit, graduation ceremonies during the past five years at Central, Jay, Milton, Navarre and Pace High Schools in the Santa Rosa District have included prayers by students – often members of groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes or the Christian World Order. The graduation ceremonies at Santa Rosa Adult School and Santa Rosa Learning Academy also have included prayers.

Leading up to the graduation ceremony, the ACLU demanded that Pace High School censor students from offering prayers or saying anything religious. In the end, members of the student body were not permitted to speak at the graduation.

The graduating class at the school, however, decided to react against the ACLU bullying by taking a stand at graduation. As soon as Principal Lay asked everyone to be seated at the ceremony, the graduating class remained standing and recited the Lord’s Prayer.

 ACLU attorney Benjamin Stevenson told ABC Channel Three after the event: "Our feeling is that it's regrettable that the students took over the ceremony to impose their religious views on the audience who may not have shared the same religious views.

"School officials have a responsibility to protect the silently held religious views of others."

Stevenson said that something should have been done to stop the recitation of the Lord's Prayer and that it is too early to know whether the ACLU will pursue further legal action.

Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: “Neither students nor teachers shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate. The students at Pace High School refused to remain silent and were not about to be bullied by the ACLU.

“We have decided to represent faculty, staff and students of Pace High School,” he said, “because the ACLU is clearly violating their First Amendment rights. Schools are not religion-free zones, and any attempt to make them so is unconstitutional.”

[muman613]

Do you suggest the school should allow every faith to practice its rituals at the public school graduation. I would not have been comfortable at such a graduation because of the display of icons and images. If the graduation cerimony was officiated by an Orthodox Rabbi maybe I would consider it.

I think that religious schools should be allowed to have religious rites at graduation but should not be permitted at public school events...

People are free to worship whatever they want... But they should not impose it on others who don't share such religious views. I don't impose Orthodox Jewish practice on my co-workers at work and I would not do so to my fellow students either.

I do support a moment of silence for silent prayers for all public school attendees.

[AsheDina]

This nation is a CHRISTIAN nation.  Christians should be able to do WHATEVER.

[muman613]

This nation is a CHRISTIAN nation.  Christians should be able to do WHATEVER.

The Constitution says that the government cannot impose one religion over another. It is called the Seperation of Church and State and much legal counsel has looked into the matter. Public schools which accept Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and atheist students cannot allow one religion to preach to its students. This is why it should be acceptable for private institutions to do as they please. But I do fully support the seperation of church and state from American government.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_church_and_state

Separation of church and state is a political and legal doctrine that government and religious institutions are to be kept separate and independent from each other.[1] The term most often refers to the combination of two principles: secularity of government and freedom of religious exercise.[2]

The phrase separation of church and state is generally traced to the letter written by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 to the Danbury Baptists, in which he referred to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as creating a "wall of separation" between church and state. [3] The phrase was then quoted by the United States Supreme Court first in 1878,[4] and then in a series of cases starting in 1948.[5] This led to increased popular and political discussion of the concept.

The concept has since been adopted in a number of countries, to varying degrees depending on the applicable legal structures and prevalent views toward the proper role of religion in society. A similar principle of laïcité has been applied in France and Turkey, while some socially secularized countries such as Norway have maintained constitutional recognition of an official state religion. The concept parallels various other international social and political ideas, including secularism, disestablishment, religious liberty, and religious pluralism..

Obviously I support other religions observing their rites as they deem fit, but in the public school system there should not be any indoctrination.

Thomas Jefferson wrote:

... no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish enlarge, or affect their civil capacities. [20]p

[Rubystars]

I am so happy those students stood up to the pigs at the ACLU.