The Friendly Atheist has a two-part report on the gradation at Bastrop High School in Louisinia. A student atheist, who is braver than most kids his age, sent a letter to the Principal requesting that there be no prayer at graduation.
The results? You can see below the fold, but you know already how this went down.
Here are portions of his original reddit post:
My graduation from high school is this Friday. I live in the Bible Belt of the United States. The school was going to perform a prayer at graduation, but due to me sending the superintendent an email stating it was against Louisiana state law and that I would be forced to contact the ACLU if they ignored me, they ceased it. The school backed down, but that's when the shitstorm rolled in. Everyone is trying to get it back in the ceremony now. I'm not worried about it, but everyone hates me... kind of worried about attending graduation now. It's attracted more hostility than I thought.
My reasoning behind it is that it's emotionally stressing on anyone who isn't Christian. No one else wanted to stand up for their constitutional right of having freedom of and FROM religion. I was also hoping to encourage other atheists to come out and be heard. I'm one of maybe three atheists in this town that I currently know of. One of the others is afraid to come out of the (atheist) closet.
Though I've caused my classmates to hate me, I feel like I've done the right thing. Regardless of their thoughts on it, basically saying I am ruining their fun and their lives, I feel like I've helped someone out there. I didn't do this for me or just atheists, but anyone who doesn't believe in their god that prayer to Yahweh may affect.
Moral of the story: though the opposition may be great, majority doesn't necessarily mean right. Thank you for reading. Wish me luck at graduation.
A straightforward request, and one upheld by the Surpreme Court. Hell, by now schools should know better! After the prinicipal received the letter he told Damon that the prayer would be removed. Yeah for things working the way they are supposed to.
But then blowback started. The Bastrop Enterprise printed a "balanced" (sigh) report, featuring teacher Mitzi Quinn, a teacher of 25-years and the senior sponsor:
For the first time ever, prayer will not be part of graduation ceremonies Friday night at Bastrop High School.
Mitzi Quinn has been on the staff at BHS for almost 25 years, much of that time as a senior advisor. In the past, Quinn said there have been students who were atheist, agnostic and other non-Christian religions who “had no problems” with the prayer.
“They respected the majority of their classmates and didn’t say anything,” Quinn said. “We’ve never had this come up before. Never.”
“And what’s even more sad is this is a student who really hasn’t contributed anything to graduation or to their classmates,” Quinn said.
The article also blames Fowler for the school having to reprint programs for the graduation. His reaction:
EDIT: Well, it hit the fan a couple hours ago. They've already assembled a group of supporters at a local church and called in the newspaper. I've had to deactivate my Facebook account and I can't reason with any of them. They refuse to listen. The whole town hates me, aside from a few closet atheists that are silently supporting, which I don't blame them looking at what I've incited here. Thanks for the support though.
So then comes the "Class Night", a combination rehersal/awards night for seniors.
"Will you please stand for a moment of silence...BEFORE I GET STARTED THOUGH." and then a student-let prayer. Plus cheering and catcalls. So we have student-led prayer, even though instructed (or is that "instructed") not to. Damon also shows his feelings over it:
EDIT: Back from Class Night... (video insert). Dealt with people staring at me, calling me names, talking about me behind my back (even teachers). I'll walk across that stage tomorrow, whether they want me to or not.
Graduation was a similar event. As the student leading the prayer says, "I have something to say. I respect the beliefs of other people, BUT...".
The Bastrop Enterprise got in on the action again (of course it did):
Just like any other graduation
Graduation ceremonies at Bastrop High School came off without a protest.
And prayer was part of the program.
Principal Stacey Pullen said earlier in the day that additional security officers were requested because of the outcry by atheists from across the country who sided with the student who filed the protest.
You know how those darn atheist are always threatening violence when they don't get their way!
That was Friday. The ACLU is looking at the events around Graduation. I know when I graduated high school in the 80s we only had moments of silence, but it was "understood" that the student leading the moment of silence would burst into a "spontaneous prayer". That has become a high-school standard, and while the school was forced to remove the prayer from the program, a "spontanous student-led prayer" may stand legal constitutional muster.
There is a silver lining to this "in your face" Christianity run amok however. The FFRF has given Fowler a $1000 Student Activist Award toward college. In addition, FriendlyAtheist.com has started a scholarship fund for him, which is at this time over $11,000 in size. A Support Damon facebook page has also been created so that, while being ostracized in his home town, he knows that he has support for his cause.