Orlando, FL - Every spring, secularists in the public school seek to remove God from graduation, and every year Liberty Counsel acts to ensure that prayer and religious viewpoints are not suppressed during the public school ceremonies. As such, Liberty Counsel is launching its thirteenth annual Friend or Foe Graduation Prayer Campaign. The campaign serves to protect religious viewpoints at graduation.
In a precedent-setting case against the ACLU that went all the way to the Supreme Court, Adler v. Duval County School Board, Liberty Counsel defended the right of students to pray or give religious messages at graduation. The case established the legal principle that public schools are free to adopt a policy that permits students or other speakers to present secular or religious messages, including prayer, at commencement ceremonies.
"Despite what the secularists want you to believe, students do not lose their constitutional right to free speech when they step to the podium at graduation," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "To allow a variety of viewpoints except religious viewpoints at graduation is religious hostility and unconstitutional. While schools should not force people to pray, neither should schools prohibit them from praying. If they do, Liberty Counsel will act quickly and decisively to defend the students," Staver concluded. Liberty Counsel has published a free legal memo on graduation prayer.
Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.
