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Bill Bosher
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Reprinted with permission)
June 2000
On June 15, 1993, Sang Ahn, the Princeton-bound president
of the senior class at Henrico’s Mills Godwin High School,
welcomed the audience of several thousand with the words,
“Let us pray.” For the first time since the United
States Supreme Court had declared in Lee v. Weisman that prayer
could not be a part of the graduation program, public schools
were put to the test.
Prayer in schools is frequently the subject of debate; however,
in no other instance has the issue been so clearly defined
by the courts as it is in the case of graduation exercises.
In 1992 the U.S.
Supreme Court heard the Weisman case that involved prayers
delivered by clergy at a middle-school commencement program
in Providence, Rhode Island. The Court held that the practice
was in violation of the First Amendment’s separation of church
and state. The argument that graduation is voluntary did not
influence the court, as it had in a 1976 Henrico County decision
by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Merhige. Schools throughout
the country had to eliminate the participation of clergy as
well as the inclusion of public prayers at graduation.
IN 1993 the Supreme Court refused to hear the Texas case
(Jones v. Clear Creek Independent School District), where
the 5th U.S. Circuit held that prayer could be included if
it was student-initiated, student-led, non-sectarian, and
non-proselytizing. Many school districts have chosen to
use the Jones model.
In 1995 the Virginia Board of Education approved guidelines
concerning “Religious Activity in the Public Schools”:
“If a student speaker elects on his own to use a portion
of his allotted time delivering a prayer, or otherwise reflecting
on the event of graduation from a religious perspective, it
is not a violation of the Establishment Clause for the school
to permit him to do so. Indeed, for the school to prohibit
the speaker from doing so could violate his or her rights
under the First Amendment.”
Where the courts and common sense seem to converge, there
is a clear prohibition against school personnel prescribing
a prayer or its content. Public schools should not be used
to convert young people to any particular faith. Schools should
be open to differences; however, the message we
frequently send to young people regarding their religious
beliefs is that we accept them for who they are as long as
they keep it to themselves.
FOLLOWING a long pause, Sang prayed, “Dear Lord, our
God, we thank You for Your constant care for us. Where we
are today is a real testimony to that care. Before we begin
our commencement ceremony, fill this gathering with Your love
and allow us to transcend the physical weight that we individually
carry and let us celebrate in one common fellowship. We
celebrate the life that You have given us and the life that
we are about to take hold of. Lord, allow the thoughts and
dreams of each of the 353 graduates here to roam the back
stretches of Your universe. . . .”
Later in the ceremony came the voice of the man for whom
the school was named, Governor Mills E. Godwin: “May
I applaud your decision to have the invocation at this ceremony
this evening. As I listened, it ran through my mind, how could
any member of the Supreme Court of the United States or the
Supreme Court of our own state of Virginia or any courts take
exception at all to what was done?”
This is the season of high-school graduations. As parents,
we celebrate this important event with our young people and
pray for their safety. Let’s use this wonderful opportunity
to pray with them as well.
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