Principal threatens to have students jailed for praying at graduation.

[MCWAY]

But, thanks to the folks at Liberty Counsel, the school board overruled the principal and the class president delivered the prayer, to a standing ovation.

It just goes to show how some public schools are hell-bent on trying to whitewash our Judeo-Christian heritage out of society.\

Originally, Principal Dale Campbell said that any students who pray or even attempt to pray would be stopped, escorted from the building by police, and arrested. The Hampton High School class president, who expressed her desire to acknowledge God in prayer at her graduation, received support from Liberty Counsel, which sent a letter to the school board demanding that it protect her and other students’ free speech. The board then overrode the principal.

It is shocking that the principal threatened students with arrest if they prayed. The school board did the right thing in overriding the principal and honoring the free speech rights of students.



http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14102&AlertID=1275

http://blackchristiannews.com/news/2011/05/hampton-high-schools-prayer-in-the-name-of-jesus-ends-in-standing-ovation-after-arrest-threats.html

Graduation prayer flap at Hampton resolved, school officials say

ELIZABETHTON — A short-lived miscue about graduation prayer policy for tonight's graduation at Hampton High School has been resolved, Carter County school officials said today.

Prayer at high school graduations has become a point of controversy in recent years because of U.S. Supreme Court rulings disallowing school-sponsored prayer, and the concern led to some angry phone calls from Hampton High School parents to school officials this week.

“My phone started ringing about 6 p.m. Thursday,” Secondary Education Supervisor Danny McClain said, adding that parents were angry about instructions given by Hampton Principal Dale Campbell earlier that day.

McClain said he learned from his talks with the parents and Campbell that the seniors had been gathered together for instructions about graduation procedures. Campbell had warned them not to create disturbances during the ceremony, McClain said, and the principal had included prayer. Students were told that students who disrupted the events would be escorted from the ceremony.

But McClain and Director of Schools Shirley Ellis said that school system policy for many years has been to maintain a neutral stance towards prayers organized and led by students without the aid of school staff.

“We do not include prayers as part of the official program,” Ellis said. “But, if a student voluntarily says a prayer, we do not encourage it or discourage it.”

Because the graduation was set for tonight, McClain said, he had to work quickly to resolve the controversy. He was busy working on the problem when Ellis arrived at work early Friday morning.

“I was thinking what a wonderful morning it was, the sun was shining and school was about to end for another year, and then Mr. McClain called me and said we needed to talk,” Ellis said.

Between McClain and Ellis, they informed Carter County's eight school board members of the concern and informed them of the standard policy on student-led prayers and school neutrality.

By mid-morning, McClain said, the concern had been resolved, and he expected no problems at Hampton during the ceremony, regardless of whether students offer prayer.

Ellis said the board’s attorney, John Banks, was not brought in on the matter.

Hampton's graduation begins tonight at 6.


http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/News/article.php?id=90689

[Dos Equis]

Paranoid anti-religious extremist loses this round. 

[MCWAY]

And hopefully, the losing streak continue (i.e. 2008 Lions)

 

[Dos Equis]

Federal Court Lifts Ban on Public Prayer at Texas High School Graduation After Uproar
Published June 03, 2011
FoxNews.com

A federal appeals court has lifted the order banning public prayer at a Texas high school graduation Saturday.

The reversal comes on the heels of increasing criticism of a federal judge's earlier ruling that agreed with the parents of one graduating student that religious expression during the ceremony at Medina Valley Independent School District would cause "irreparable harm" to their son.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals thought differently, reversing the judge's ruling Friday and allowing students to say the word "amen" and invite the audience to pray during the ceremony.

"This is a complete victory for religious freedom and for Angela," said Kelly Shackelford, president/CEO of Liberty Institute, which had represented class valedictorian Angela Hildenbrand in the appeal. "We are thrilled that she will be able to give her prayer without censorship in her valedictorian speech tomorrow night. No citizen has the right to ask the government to bind and gag the free speech of another citizen."

Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery's initial ban had been denounced as an "activist decision" by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who called it "exactly the wrong civics lesson to teach to the class of 2011."

Biery had ruled Thursday in favor of Christa and Danny Schultz, who sued to block such religious expressions at their son's graduation. Among the words or phrases Biery had banned were: “join in prayer,” “bow their heads,” “amen,” and “prayer.”

He also ordered the school district to remove the terms “invocation” and “benediction” from the graduation program, in favor of "opening remarks" and "closing remarks."

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott responded by voicing support for the school district in its appeal.

“Part of this goes to the very heart of the unraveling of moral values in this country,” Abbott told Fox News Radio, saying the judge wanted to turn school administrators into “speech police.”

“I’ve never seen such a restriction on speech issued by a court or the government,” Abbott told Fox News Radio. “It seems like a trampling of the First Amendment rather than protecting the First Amendment.”

Biery's ruling infuriated religious activists, like the AGAPE Movement, a Christian group based in Wichita Falls, Texas, which had said Friday it would travel to the school in Castroville for a peaceful protest if the ban wasn't reversed, according to the San Antonio-Express News.

The family's suit was being backed by the Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/06/03/texas-senator-blasts-judges-decision-to-forbid-public-prayer-at-high-school/?test=latestnews

[tonymctones]

^^^^

the class validictorian who started the movement to overturn the idiocy has received death threats...

i guess tolerance is only for the ppl that you like...

saw a little blurb about a judge in california ruling that it was ok to have an all gay soft ball league again more tolerance from the idiots yelling about tolerance.

[Skip8282]

^^^^

the class validictorian who started the movement to overturn the idiocy has received death threats...

i guess tolerance is only for the ppl that you like...

saw a little blurb about a judge in california ruling that it was ok to have an all gay soft ball league again more tolerance from the idiots yelling about tolerance.

A valedictorian giving a prayer during the commencement speech is hardly tolerance.  If students want to form a group at graduation and say a prayer, then I'm fine with it.  When everybody has to listen to the prayer because it's tossed in with her speech, that's bullshit.

Hell, I could even understand if she wanted to throw in a quick, "I'd like to thank God for helping me get through this, yada, yada, yada".  But having a prayer?  Asking people to bow their heads for a nonexistent entity?  Forget it - they're overstepping their bounds.

[Dos Equis]

A valedictorian giving a prayer during the commencement speech is hardly tolerance.  If students want to form a group at graduation and say a prayer, then I'm fine with it.  When everybody has to listen to the prayer because it's tossed in with her speech, that's bullshit.

Hell, I could even understand if she wanted to throw in a quick, "I'd like to thank God for helping me get through this, yada, yada, yada".  But having a prayer?  Asking people to bow their heads for a nonexistent entity?  Forget it - they're overstepping their bounds.

Happens all the time.  Prayers are given at all sorts of events, public and private.  There is nothing offensive about a ceremony that is as much a part of American history as anything else.  What's absurd is some kid saying they will suffer irreparable harm if they have to listen to it at a graduation ceremony. 

This isn't the government establishment of religion. 

There are also the competing interests of the free exercise of religion and freedom of expression. 

[Skip8282]

Happens all the time.  Prayers are given at all sorts of events, public and private.  There is nothing offensive about a ceremony that is as much a part of American history as anything else.  What's absurd is some kid saying they will suffer irreparable harm if they have to listen to it at a graduation ceremony. 

This isn't the government establishment of religion. 

There are also the competing interests of the free exercise of religion and freedom of expression. 

Happening all the time doesn't make it right and whether it's offensive or not depends on the person.  I agree about the irreparable harm crap, it's a bunch of nonsense.  But, people should not be pushing religion onto others.

Like I said, if they wanted to group up and say a prayer, that's fine.  Forcing everybody to listen during a commencement ceremony is over the line.

[tonymctones]

Happening all the time doesn't make it right and whether it's offensive or not depends on the person.  I agree about the irreparable harm crap, it's a bunch of nonsense.  But, people should not be pushing religion onto others.

Like I said, if they wanted to group up and say a prayer, that's fine.  Forcing everybody to listen during a commencement ceremony is over the line.

dude they arent forcing religion on anyone they are just publicly expressing theirs. If you dont want to bow your head dont bow your head...

they arent pushing religion on anybody more than an atheist is that gives a speach and doesnt say a prayer...

[Dos Equis]

Happening all the time doesn't make it right and whether it's offensive or not depends on the person.  I agree about the irreparable harm crap, it's a bunch of nonsense.  But, people should not be pushing religion onto others.

Like I said, if they wanted to group up and say a prayer, that's fine.  Forcing everybody to listen during a commencement ceremony is over the line.

I agree frequency doesn't justify something that is wrong at its core, but that's really not what's going on here.  Check out this thread:  http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?topic=378413.0   One of the things you'll notice is how deeply ingrained religion is in our country's history.  This kind of thing (prayer) is as much a part of the American fabric as something like the pledge of allegiance.  It's in the U.S. House, the Senate, state and local legislative bodies, the military, the private sector, etc.  Have you ever been to a change of command ceremony on a military base?  One of my buddies was taking command of a unit and I attended the ceremony.  It included a prayer as part of the ceremony.    

One other example, my office consists of a wide variety of people, from devout Christians, to Buddhists, to atheists.  We had an office lunch recently and one of the Buddhist employees asked another employee to have prayer before we ate.  No one was offended (as far as I know).  This kind of thing happens everywhere.  It's part of American society.  

What line do you think is being crossed here (regarding the graduation prayer by the student)?  

[Skip8282]

I agree frequency doesn't justify something that is wrong at its core, but that's really not what's going on here.  Check out this thread:  http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?topic=378413.0   One of the things you'll notice is how deeply ingrained religion is in our country's history.  This kind of thing (prayer) is as much a part of the American fabric as something like the pledge of allegiance.  It's in the U.S. House, the Senate, state and local legislative bodies, the military, the private sector, etc.  Have you ever been to a change of command ceremony on a military base?  One of my buddies was taking command of a unit and I attended the ceremony.  It included a prayer as part of the ceremony.   

One other example, my office consists of a wide variety of people, from devout Christians, to Buddhists, to atheists.  We had an office lunch recently and one of the Buddhist employees asked another employee to have prayer before we ate.  No one was offended (as far as I know).  This kind of thing happens everywhere.  It's part of American society.   

What line do you think is being crossed here (regarding the graduation prayer by the student)? 

Been to many change of commands and I work on a military base.  I'm invited as a courtesy and as a polite guest I listen to the prayer if the officer so chooses to have one.

Graduation is for everyone - not the valedictorian, not the religious, everyone.  There's absolutely no justification for obligating others to listen or feel obligated to listen.  If I don't attend a change of command, I don't lose anything.  Missing graduation is missing a special part of a persons life.

[Dos Equis]

Been to many change of commands and I work on a military base.  I'm invited as a courtesy and as a polite guest I listen to the prayer if the officer so chooses to have one.

Graduation is for everyone - not the valedictorian, not the religious, everyone.  There's absolutely no justification for obligating others to listen or feel obligated to listen.  If I don't attend a change of command, I don't lose anything.  Missing graduation is missing a special part of a persons life.

Agree, although no one is being forced to miss a graduation. 

[Bindare_Dundat]

People who always feel the need to pray in public are alot like people who smoke. They never can seem to understand why anyone else would be offended by their rituals which in turn makes them even more fucking annoying.

[Dos Equis]

People who always feel the need to pray in public are alot like people who smoke. They never can seem to understand why anyone else would be offended by their rituals which in turn makes them even more fucking annoying.

Pretty absurd comparison. 

[OzmO]

People who always feel the need to pray in public are alot like people who smoke. They never can seem to understand why anyone else would be offended by their rituals which in turn makes them even more fucking annoying.

I am not a big religious guy for sure, but so what?  They are annoying but their praying isn't potentially harming my lungs lol. 

[Fury]

I am not a big religious guy for sure, but so what?  They are annoying but their praying isn't potentially harming my lungs lol. 

[OzmO]

People can practice their religion all they want, peacefully.  And with out inconveniencing anyone else.

Like blocking roads lol.

[Dos Equis]

Whoa.  lol.  Well at least almost everyone is doing it.   

[OzmO]

Is that even in the USA?

[Fury]

Is that even in the USA?

Nah, but I've got pics from NYC, too. That's Paris, where it's also completely illegal for them to be doing that (not that it ever stops them).

[Bindare_Dundat]

I am not a big religious guy for sure, but so what?  They are annoying but their praying isn't potentially harming my lungs lol. 

I was raised Catholic, went to a Catholic elementary school and a Catholic high school.   The times we had mass were boring and dry. I didn't even understand what I should be asking forgiveness for at the age of 8, all I knew was I could be doing a lot more fun things with my time then this.

The high school  priest was an Irish asshole that enjoyed targetting and embarrassing students who dared so much as whisper during the painfully long routine. At that age, all I knew was I could be doing a lot more fun things with my time then this.   As soon as someone mentions prayer at the dinner table, I fucking cringe. I'm sick of hearing about it.

[Bindare_Dundat]

Pretty absurd comparison.  

Only to those that pray to invisible beings.  

[Dos Equis]

Only to those that pray to invisible beings.  

That would be me.   

[OzmO]

I was raised Catholic, went to a Catholic elementary school and a Catholic high school.   The times we had mass were boring and dry. I didn't even understand what I should be asking forgiveness for at the age of 8, all I knew was I could be doing a lot more fun things with my time then this.

The high school  priest was an Irish asshole that enjoyed targetting and embarrassing students who dared so much as whisper during the painfully long routine. At that age, all I knew was I could be doing a lot more fun things with my time then this.   As soon as someone mentions prayer at the dinner table, I fucking cringe. I'm sick of hearing about it.

I was too. Lol.  But didn't go to a catholic school.

[Skip8282]

Damn, one well placed...oh wait...