High Schoolers Demand To Pray In Busy School Commons Area

In Vancouver, Washington, a bitter dispute has broken out over high school officials' attempts to accommodate a student prayer group, according to a report yesterday by Religion News Service. At Heritage High School, a group of students who are members of the Church of Truth -- a congregation made up largely of Russian-speaking immigrants who came to the U.S. for religious freedom-- insisted on praying in the busy school commons area. The school offered them a room where they could meet before classes, but the students refused. The ensuing dispute led to the suspension of 11 students. Liberty Counsel then jumped into the fray, sending a letter to the Evergreen Public Schools demanding that the suspensions be expunged from the students' records, and threatening to sue if they were not. The letter said the suspensions were an overreaction to the situation.