The Right Decision

The Right Decision

Rappahannock County High School held a prayer-less graduationrecently.

Many people, including students, faculty and parents, were disappointed and even angry at a graduation ceremony with no invocation and no benediction.

Others felt that a no-prayer graduation was proper because state-sponsored religious worship does not belong in a public institution.

Last year the U.S. Supreme Court decided in the case Lee vs. Weisman that prayers at public school functions were in violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. More recently the Court refused to hear a Texas case in which a lower court allowed student-led prayers at graduation, but that case may not apply in all states.

Despite their personal feelings, School Superintendent David Gangel and the School Board observed the law as delineated by the U.S. Supreme Court. There were no prayers at graduation.

The situation is different in Loudoun County. School officials there have thumbed their noses at the law, and are attempting to hold prayers later this week at graduation.

So far they have not been successful, and a judge has issued an injunction barring prayers at the pending ceremonies.

In Loudoun, school officials are sending students the message that you can ignore or circumvent laws you don’t like, and that whatever you want, you should have it your way.

Rappahannock officials are getting across the message that you should obey and resepct the law, even if it’s unpopular, and that compromise is a fact of life: you don’t always get what you want.

We applaud Superintendent Gangel and the School Board. It was a tough call, but they made the right decision. Students may not have had prayers, but they received some lessons in democracy that may, in the long run, be even more valuable.