Graduation Prayer

A civil liberties attorney is objecting to a federal appeals court’s decision to side with a former teacher who complained about prayers at a graduation ceremony in an Arkansas school district.

The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of Steve Warnock in his dispute with the De Valls Bluff School District, but denied his request to stiffen penalties against the district. The ex-teacher had argued that a 2004 baccalaureate ceremony violated lower-court injunctions by including prayers by ministers, and the appeals court agreed with him, rejecting counter arguments that the baccalaureate ceremony was a student-organized event.

Warnock won an earlier lawsuit accusing the school district of discriminating against him because he is a non-Christian teacher. But attorney John Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, believes it is the court that has shown bias in this case. He feels the Eighth Circuit’s ruling discriminates against Christians.

Public events and speeches should not have to be censored or excluded “just because someone mentions Jesus’ name,” Whitehead insists. However, he points out, many special interest groups and liberal organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union apparently disagree and are willing to fight to make sure any Christian references to or expressions of Christian faith are silenced.

Such organizations purportedly fight for Americans’ civil liberties, the Rutherford Institute spokesman notes, “but one thing that I think we really have to understand is that Christians pay taxes, and I don’t think it’s time for Christians to be second-class citizens.” If freedom in America is to be maintained “for everyone, including Christians, Jews and others,” he asserts, “we have to stand up and fight. This is not a time to be weak or to avoid an issue.”

After all, Whitehead emphasizes, in cases like the one involving the De Valls Bluff School District and other school systems like it, Christians’ right to pray or express their faith on campuses and in other academic settings is at stake, “and there are so many children in those schools.” Based on the Eighth Circuit Court’s ruling and similar ones, he feels the outlook for America’s children and their children “does not look good.”

The central issue in the debate, the pro-family legal advocate contends, is the question of whether Christians are going to be able to say Jesus’ name in public in America. “And if you want to be able to do that,” he says, “you’re going to have to fight the cases.”

Hopefully, Christians can win those cases, Whitehead adds, “but it’s going to be uphill. It’s going to take time. But anything worthwhile takes time, and it usually takes a fight.” And, although the Eighth District erred in siding with Steve Warnock, the constitutional attorney points out that the courts have not always decided in the former teacher’s favor.

Last year, Whitehead notes, in Warnock’s case against the Arkansas school district that had employed him, a federal jury ruled against the former teacher. The jury found that he had failed to show he was fired by the district because of his allegations of religious discrimination and complaints about Christian prayers.

Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online. Reprinted with permission from AgapePress.