Christian Attorney Predicts Attempt to Block Graduation Prayer Will Succeed
by Jim Brown
May 18, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A constitutional attorney fears the American Civil Liberties Union may succeed in it attempt to get prayer banned at a high school graduation in Kentucky on Friday.
The ACLU has filed a federal lawsuit to stop officials at Russell County High School from saying a prayer during tomorrow's graduation ceremony. The organization filed the suit on behalf of an unidentified student who, according to an ACLU attorney, "doesn't feel he should be forced to sit through prayer." According to an Associated Press report, the principal of the school refused to guarantee that nobody would pray at Friday's ceremony.
Steve Crampton is chief counsel for the American Family Association's Center for Law & Policy (CLP). He says it is unfortunate that the ACLU often has the upper hand in such cases.
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Steve Crampton |
"Of course the Constitution doesn't say anything about offering up a 30-second prayer at a high school graduation," says the constitutional attorney, "but we have this history of crazy court decisions that have kind of created an illusory wall separating students and folks who are voluntarily attending these events from any kind of recognition or acknowledgement of God. It's really just an absurd state of affairs."Those court decisions, he says, have erected a "horrific double-standard" in the law by frequently protecting a single atheist who objects to school prayer. He explains that observation.
"Put the shoe on the other foot for a minute," says Crampton. "Consider what deeply religious Christian students are forced to endure in the classroom setting itself: countless hours, in most cases, of pro-homosexual propaganda; graphic teachings on sex; untold numbers of anti-Christian diatribes -- all offered in the name of tolerance or educational necessity.
"Very rarely are [those students] given an opportunity to opt out," he notes.
The AFA attorney says although the overwhelming majority of Russell County residents support prayer at graduation, he believes Judge Joseph McKinley is likely to grant the ACLU a preliminary injunction to stop the prayer.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
