Group Promotes Options For Prayer At Graduation Ceremonies

Liberty Counsel yesterday announced its Ninth Annual "Friend or Foe" Graduation Prayer Campaign designed to "educate and, if necessary, litigate to ensure that prayer and religious viewpoints are not suppressed during graduation ceremonies." A legal memo that the group has produced says:

Prayer can still be conducted at public school graduations if school officials use secular criteria to invite the speaker, and once there, the speaker voluntarily prays. A valedictorian, salutatorian, or class officer can also voluntarily pray as part of the ceremony. The student body can elect a class chaplain or elect a class representative for the specific purpose of prayer. Part of the school program can be given over to the students and therefore be student-led and student-initiated. A parent and/or student committee can create and conduct part of the ceremony and, therefore, avoid state involvement. The ceremony can be conducted off the school premises by private individuals, and therefore no state involvement would occur. The school may also adopt a free speech policy which allows the senior class an opportunity to devote a few minutes of the ceremony to uncensored student speech that can be secular or sacred. Finally, private individuals can sponsor public school graduations on or off the public campus.