Shall We Pray at Graduation?

Yes, but let's do it the old-fashioned way at a church-sponsored, voluntarily attended baccalaureate service. In most cases it can even be held on campus as long as the school does not plan or promote the service.

Corporate prayer at a school-sponsored graduation ceremony, however, is unconstitutional (Lee v. Weisman, 1992). Judge Anthony Kennedy in his majority opinion reasoned that the "Constitution forbids the State to exact religious conformity from a student as the price of attending her own high school graduation."

It doesn't solve the problem to have a student pray at graduation. Those who want the student body to vote on whether a student should give a "non-sectarian, non-proselytizing" prayer speak nonsense.

Why aren't "student-led, non-sectarian" prayer policies the solution? Because:

• Our constitutional rights cannot be done away by majority vote.
• Real prayer is always "sectarian." It comes out of someone's religious tradition.
• When school officials engage in the futile effort of making the prayer "non-sectarian," excessive entanglement between church and state results.

Jesus warned us about practicing our piety before others and told us not to pray on the street corner where we can be seen, but to go into our closet and shut the door and pray in secret (Matthew 6:1-6). Baccalaureate services- where students and parents assemble for the purpose of prayer- are in keeping with this teaching. And, of course, so are private, silent prayers, anytime.