'God Bless' Student Reinstated to Campus TV Station
by Fred Jackson and Sherry Black
January 29, 2004
(AgapePress) - In Illinois, a high school senior who was suspended last month for ending his school newscast with "God bless" is back on the air.Last month, officials at Dupo High School suspended 17-year-old James Lord from the lead anchor spot of the daily school TV newscast for ignoring warnings not to say "God bless" at the end of the cast. But Lord appealed the one-month suspension, arguing that the school violated his First Amendment rights. (See Earlier Story)
This week, the school board met to discuss the matter and agreed that Lord can continue to say "God bless" -- but stressed he can only do it occasionally. Lord tells Associated Press that has been the policy all along.
"Basically what they tried to get me on was the fact that they told me that I was never to say it again -- when actually I was only told not to say it all the time," the student says.
He claims he had not said the phrase on air for more than a month and a half before uttering it on December 17. Later that day, he says was pulled from his second-hour class, told he had been temporarily suspended, and instructed to find a replacement.
Lord says he is still amazed there has been such a fuss about all this. "I am a religious person -- I'm a Christian. But at the same time, I don't look at 'God bless' as always having to be defined as a religious expression."
Lord is now back on the job as the high school TV anchor -- and says he plans to continue his practice of occasionally saying "God bless."
Senate Prayers
Meanwhile, religious utterances are receiving harsh treatment at Marshall University, where prayers before the school's Student Senate meetings are being criticized by Christians on the West Virginia campus.
As the student body vice president at Marshall, Seth Murphy serves as president of the Student Senate. Murphy says the prayers -- which have opened Student Senate meetings since September -- are appropriate because the U.S. Senate also starts its meetings with prayer.
Three months ago, Murphy sent a letter inviting religious student groups to lead prayers that are heartfelt and directed to God. He wrote: "Don't come to me with some watered-down, non-committal prayer that is nearly devoid of religious reference and that speaks of a 'higher power.'"
United Methodist and Presbyterian-sponsored student groups oppose the senate prayer and forwarded the letter to the Marshall University Civil Liberties Union. That group is demanding that the prayers stop -- but Murphy says the Student Senate has agreed that the prayers will continue.
Associated Press contributed to this story.
