Greenwood High School in Indiana put a graduation prayer up to a vote a couple months ago.
Students voted yes, so Constitution be damned, right?
Not exactly.
A wise judge said no — she issued an injunction against the school so they couldn’t say a prayer.
So there you have it. No prayer during graduation, right?
Not exactly.
The school has found a loophole…
A central Indiana high school that was the subject of a lawsuit over a graduation prayer says it is breaking with tradition and will not screen speeches by speakers at its May 28 commencement.
In the past, Greenwood High School’s principal has required student speakers to submit their speeches in advance to review the content, grammar and length. Most schools in the nation follow similar practices.
But Greenwood is lifting the practice this year, and school officials say speakers will not be stopped even if they use profane language or deliver politically charged speeches.
School officials would not comment on the reason for the change.
Let’s read between the lines: If students just so happen to include a prayer in their speech, it’s not like those speeches will be screened beforehand…
Phil sums up the potential consequences nicely:
We will not review speeches “wink, wink”. You can say what ever you want, “Wink, Wink”. You could even lead a prayer, “WINK, WINK”.
There’s some reason to have hope, though. The student who initially brought up the lawsuit against school prayer was the school’s valedictorian, Eric Workman.
I would think he’d be giving a speech that is prayer-less. So yay for that.
Of course, even if a student did make references to god or prayer, that wouldn’t be a legal issue. Students are allowed to do that. It’s school officials who cannot endorse prayer or include an official prayer in the graduation ceremony.
It’s a weak attempt at circumventing the law and they’ve already lost the case. They’re just trying to dig that hole even deeper.
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