Printer-friendly versionA Hypothetical Controversy Over School Prayer
A Hypothetical Controversy Over School Prayer
Liberty High School is a public school with a student population of 553 students located in a mid-sized town called Parker. Most of the people who live in Parker and who attend the high school identify themselves as Christians. A smaller number of residents and students, however, practice Judaism, Islam or Buddhism. Others practice no religion at all.
One of the traditions at Liberty High School is the inclusion of a prayer at graduation ceremonies, which the student body president writes and reads. Previous presidents of the student government have been Christian, and the prayers offered at the graduation ceremonies have always been Christian in nature, invoking the name of Jesus Christ. This year, however, the student body president was Muslim, and he read the following prayer at graduation:
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Thank you for allowing us to gather here safely. We thank you for the wonderful year you have allowed us to spend together as students of Liberty High School. We thank you for our teachers, who have devoted many hours to each of us. We thank you for our parents and may each one receive a special blessing. Please see us safely through this night and through the tomorrows of our lives.
Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the world, and may peace be upon prophet Muhammad, his family and companions.
Assalaamu-alaykum. (Peace be upon you.)
Parents and others attendees, who later were joined by members of the wider community, expressed concern about the prayer that was read at Liberty's graduation. So the school's administrators called a public meeting the following week to discuss the issue. To follow are some quotes from attendees at the meeting.
"This is a Christian community, and I think it was wrong for the school to force us Christians – the majority here in Parker – to participate in a prayer to a God that we don't recognize."
-- Betty, a Christian parent
"No matter what God the student body president selects to pray to, it won't be mine, because I don't believe in God."
-- Lamont, a student who is an atheist
"I simply did what my predecessors did; I wrote and read a prayer at graduation."
-- Tom, student body president
"Tom's prayer reflects ideas that are common to our community's religions. It is important to incorporate values like these in our educational forums."
-- Isadora, a representative from the local interfaith alliance
Betty and Lamont joined forces and filed a lawsuit against Liberty High School (and the Parker Unified School District), claiming that Tom's prayer was unconstitutional.
