Suit Filed Challenging Graduation Prayer In Tangipahoa, LA School

Yesterday's New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that for the sixth time in 13 years, the ACLU of Louisiana has filed suit against the Tangipahoa School Board challenging the injection of religion into public schools. Yesterday's federal court suit charges that at a graduation ceremony for Tangipahoa PM High School, a faculty member delivered an invocation, specifically praying in Jesus' name. The graduation program indicated that a student would deliver the invocation, but at the event, faculty member Anthony Massi was the person who led the prayer. A number of faculty and administrators were present and, according to the complaint in the lawsuit, "condoned, approved of, participated and acquiesced in the giving of the invocation". The complaint in John "P" v. Tangipahoa Parish School Board alleges that the graduation prayer violated the Establishment Clause. It seeks declaratory and injunctive relief as well as nominal damages.