Defiant HS Valedictorian Recites Lord's Prayer

[EyeQueue]

He's a freedom fightin' hero, y'all, cuz this is a Kristian nashun!!!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/0 ... f=religion

[FeministShrew]

Liberty is 50 miles from where I live, 20 from where I work. I'm deeply disgusted & embarrassed by what happened. I've been avoiding commenting on my friends' FB posts about it, because most of them are very happy about it. I've wanted to post how I really feel, but I'm already the black sheep in my family & my neighborhood. :angry-banghead:

I just want to move away from here.

[VVV]

I saw that on FB. It took all my willpower to avoid responding to it. I wanted to ask if everyone would be so approving if he had ripped up his speech and started reciting Hare Krishnas or quoting from the Koran.

[Jinger Jar]

This happens every year somewhere in the United States: a valedictorian gets a wild hair up their ass and decides to defy their school and recite a prayer at commencement. And then the community loses its mind, with some folks backing the student and other folks enraged over the whole thing. "Atheists," "First Amendment," "persecution," and "Christian nation" all become trigger words that cause readers to fill entire editorial pages of town newspapers until the end of June. Sometimes lawyers get involved, and sometimes school districts end up stroking a check to one party or another.

It's high drama worthy of an opera house.

School districts, being the deep pockets that invariably get hosed when stuff like this happens, should adopt this policy and require that the valedictorian and the student's parents sign an acknowledgement of it before the kid is allowed to approach the microphone at graduation. The commencement address has to be approved by the school principal 10 days before graduation, and the school's graduation ceremony coordinator will have a copy of it and will be following along during the speech at graduation. If the valedictorian deviates one syllable from the approved speech, the kid's microphone will be cut and administrators will escort the kid from the stage.

That's the policy in my school district, and there hasn't been a problem with rogue valedictorians in the years I've worked here, and we have a dozen comprehensive high schools and three alternative high schools that graduate. No prayers. No profanity. No 'stick it to the man' speeches. No surprises. :shrug:

[louisa05]

As a person of faith, I am offended by prayer being used as stunt to get attention and accolades. Doesn't at all match up with Jesus's direction to pray in secret where God can hear you. An unauthorized prayer in the middle of a graduation ceremony which is drowned out by cheering and posted online is surely the modern day equivalent of praying on the street corner for others to see. And that makes the kid, according to Jesus anyway (but do fundagelicals really care what he might think?), a hypocrite who has already had his reward.

[dawbs]

I have to say that I really dislike districts being heavy handed on what STUDENTS are allowed to say in their speeches.

And I dislike the use of students as pawns in the big picture games played by the politicos on both sides.

[Arete]

Oh look! Another 17 year old who thinks he knows everything. Must be June. :roll:

[RachelB]

If it's really a Christian nation, there's nothing brave or counter-cultural about praying the Lord's Prayer at graduation.

If it's not really a Christian nation, it's rude to subject people to a religious display they didn't necessarily want to be a part of.

I don't object to him praying. I object to him coercing other people into praying, which is what happens when prayer is brought into a public but not religious setting.

[France Nolan]

Just, why? Why be a dick? Why make other people uncomfortable? I'm a Christian, and I'd be seriously uncomfortable and pissed off if someone pulled this at my high school graduation.

[GolightlyGrrl]

Just, why? Why be a dick? Why make other people uncomfortable? I'm a Christian, and I'd be seriously uncomfortable and pissed off if someone pulled this at my high school graduation.

I was raised Catholic. During mass my old parish priest would to ask the parishioners to pray for somebody. Of course, someone always said, "Pray for all the aborted babies." Ugh, never once did anybody say, "Pray for the poor, pray for the disadvantaged, pray for our veterans, pray for the sick, pray for world peace..." It really irritated me. I guess I should have opened my mouth but I grew up in a very conservative area and having a dissenting opinion or caring about something other than "aborted babies" made you a Communist or something.

[FeministShrew]

I want to ask all my friends if they would be so supportive if the valedictorian were Muslim, or Sikh, or Hindu, or Buddhist, or Jewish, or Baha'i. Our local high school has students from all of those religions, even if only one. I have a feeling that even a Catholic prayer wouldn't have gone over well.

[France Nolan]

True story: I grew up in a predominantly Jewish area, and most of my teachers were Jewish. For the most part there weren't any problems. As I've previously mentioned there were cultural exchanges, but few people were combative/forceful about religious issues. My elementary school music teacher had some, ah, boundary issues. She had us reciting/singing Jewish prayers in Hebrew. My Catholic friend and I thought we were just singing music until she gave us a copy of the lyrics to one of the songs and she had crossed out the English translation. We thought it was weird and brought the papers home to our parents. Dad called one of our Jewish friends who translated the Hebrew for us. Surprise! We were (unknowingly) reciting Hebrew prayers to God.

Our parents called the school and the teacher was disciplined.

[JMarie]

The only way I could agree with this is if every single student is Christian. Which may be true for this community.

[GolightlyGrrl]

I want to ask all my friends if they would be so supportive if the valedictorian were Muslim, or Sikh, or Hindu, or Buddhist, or Jewish, or Baha'i. Our local high school has students from all of those religions, even if only one. I have a feeling that even a Catholic prayer wouldn't have gone over well.

I'm a Unitarian. Would they support me in lighting the chalice?

[France Nolan]

The only way I could agree with this is if every single student is Christian. Which may be true for this community.

But even if every single student were Christian it still wouldn't be appropriate. This is a public school and as such there should be no school sponsored prayer.

[JMarie]

But even if every single student were Christian it still wouldn't be appropriate. This is a public school and as such there should be no school sponsored prayer.

Sure, it wouldn't be appropriate, but if everyone there was Christian, they wouldn't find fault with it. I wonder if the speech became a news story because someone in the audience wasn't Christian AND was offended.

[GeoBQn]

The thing is that you can never really know what people believe. Even at a school where it seems like everybody is Christian, there are probably students who are privately atheist or agnostic, but are toeing the line until they get to college because they don't want to become targets and/or incur the wrath of their parents. There's also the issue that there's a ton of diversity among Christian denominations. One person's prayer might be another's blasphemy.

[Mela99]

My big complaint here: a few days ago there was a story about a Native American girl who wore an Eagle feather in her hair - a privilege within her Nation - to her graduation, and got smacked with a $1,000 fine before they'll hand over her diploma.

He prays openly, loudly, and in front of the whole damned world, and he gets rewarded.

[Jeneric Duggar]

I want to ask all my friends if they would be so supportive if the valedictorian were Muslim, or Sikh, or Hindu, or Buddhist, or Jewish, or Baha'i. Our local high school has students from all of those religions, even if only one. I have a feeling that even a Catholic prayer wouldn't have gone over well.

Yes, I wonder how they would have felt if he had got out some rosary beads and started reeling off some Hail Marys.

[BoomerLynn]

My big complaint here: a few days ago there was a story about a Native American girl who wore an Eagle feather in her hair - a privilege within her Nation - to her graduation, and got smacked with a $1,000 fine before they'll hand over her diploma.

He prays openly, loudly, and in front of the whole damned world, and he gets rewarded.

WTF?!

[FakePigtails]

Praying at a public high school graduation was quite all right at the one I went to a few years ago. Everyone bowed their heads just as if we were at a church. Even though I consider myself a Christian I didn't. It was a rural area in a red state, but I didn't expect that to happen. If people want to thank God for their completion of high school so much, there are plenty of alternatives. The way people pretend it HAS to happen at the school, during the ceremony, and out loud is ridiculous and as stated above, contrary to what Jesus preached.

[SpeakNow]

He could've avoided the whole thing by just starting his speech with a moment of silence. Those who want to pray can pray, and those who want to reflect can reflect

[lilwriter85]

I can't stand people like or people who support prayer at PUBLIC high school graduations. If you want to say prayer graduations tell mommy and daddy to pony up money for a private Christian high school.

[church_of_dog]

The thing is that you can never really know what people believe. Even at a school where it seems like everybody is Christian, there are probably students who are privately atheist or agnostic, but are toeing the line until they get to college because they don't want to become targets and/or incur the wrath of their parents. There's also the issue that there's a ton of diversity among Christian denominations. One person's prayer might be another's blasphemy.

Exactly. If we have freedom OF and FROM religion as a legal right (which we do), and if we recognize that we have the right to keep our religious beliefs (or lack thereof) private, then even knowing how someone self-labels their religious beliefs at any given moment, does not mean they might not change those views in the next moment. And as you point out, people might self-identify as something other than what they truly believe, especially while they are kids living at home, and often still figuring out their own thoughts as well.

And while the valedictorian of course has the right to his own beliefs, in that speech he is speaking to an audience that he ought to presume holds the whole range of possible views.

[Mama Mia]

I don't know ... I kinda lean towards it's his speech, he should get to say whatever he wants. It isn't the same as a teacher or administrator leading the group in prayer. If he was just reading it off -- that would seem, to me, to be his option - no matter what his belief system or opinion is.