Indiana student sues over school graduation prayer

Every time I hear someone use "common sense" as an argument, I know any pretense at at a rational argument has evaporated into thin air.

I'm still trying to figure out why there's a prayer involved in this at all.

What's graduation got to do with God, Allah, Buddah or Vishnu? Seriously.

 

Facts matter little to some of our friends on this thread.

 

I thought it was supposed to be a human sacrifice for the god of the harvest.

 

Back in the mid 90's a neo-con wannabe Mike Harris was premier of Ontario, winning a majority with his catchy "Common Sense Revolution" platform

At the time Metropolitan Toronto consisted of the City of Toronto, and five cities. Each city had its own government but shared services (police, fire, etc) with Metro Toronto. Harris decided common sense dictated that if you got rid of the local governments and had one large central city council, there would be huge savings to the taxpayer. Naturally, the opposite turned out to be true and Toronto is still trying to get out from the mess the Toronto hating' Harris government created.

 

Thomas Paine thinks you do-gooders should take your bullshit to PMs.

 

Actually, what happened was the blocking of "Freedom of religion" and the promoting of "Freedom from religion," which, last I looked, is nowhere in the Constitution.

 

And, as a bonus, they'll actually get an education, too, unlike in most public schools.

 

Once again proving that you have no idea what you are talking about. I don't know what state you are in, but in many it is actually the public schools that have the tougher standards for teachers as well as better resources. In New York, for example, private schools rely heavily on very new teachers who need a job while they are earning the certifications that will allow them to move on to better, more lucrative jobs in public schools.

 

I think Junkie might be the lawyer for the school:

However, the majority of students voted to have the prayer, and they say it's not a religious prayer.

It's a prayer wishing the students well in the future.

http://mywabashvalley.com/content/fulltext/?cid=107461

I just don't see how that's possible, conceptually. Isn't a "prayer," by definition, an appeal to some higher power? There's a difference between non-religious and non-denominational. If it's non-denominational, it's still unconstitutional. Even a "prayer" that doesn't expressly appeal to a higher power seems like it would still impliedly do so. Take Junkie's example of the "prayer" for the Browns to win. If he prays, and doesn't just "hope," isn't that conceptually different? I'd be curious to see prior Greenwood High "non-religious" graduation prayers. If it wasn't religious, then why the battle at all to call it a "prayer"? Would the students seriously vote on whether to wish everyone well in the future?

I can't see how a reasonable court would rule on the school's behalf, because I can't get my head around a "non-religious prayer." If someone else could, I'd be glad to listen, but I don't know how that would be structured as to not include a higher power. Because if it doesn't, then it's not a prayer any more. By definition.

 

Because majority rule is very, very important to o_t. Unless a majority votes for a Democrat. In that case, the majority is stupid and must never be listened to.

This alternate view of the Constitution, whereby the minority isn't entitled to protection from the majority, would be hilarious if it weren't so nefarious. If you really want a giggle, look up what Liz Cheney and Co. are attempting to claim about lawyers appointed BY THE GOVERNMENT to defend terror suspects.

 

Anybody actually know what the prayer is?

 

Waylon,

Since you've been following this closely, do you know yet which judge in the Southern District this has been assigned to?

And since the definition of a prayer is "an address to God or gods in word or thought", I think you'd be hard pressed to convince many judges that such a thing as a "non-religious prayer" exists.