wfn.org | Stated Clerk Joins Amicus Brief Supporting Graduation Prayer

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

4-November-1997 
97423 
 
    Stated Clerk Joins Amicus Brief 
    Supporting Graduation Prayer 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter and Mark Tammen 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly stated clerk 
the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick has filed an amicus curiae brief in an Idaho 
case supporting the right of a high school student valedictorian to offer a 
prayer at a graduation ceremony. 
 
    The case before the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit 
concerned the Madison County (Idaho) School Board's policy allowing for 
student-led prayer at a graduation ceremony.  The school board had adopted 
a policy that allowed the top four students of each graduating class to 
choose to deliver an "address, poem, reading, song, musical presentation, 
prayer, or any other pronouncement of their choosing."  Speakers are 
permitted to pray or not pray at their own initiative. 
 
    Citing the "God Alone Is Lord of the Conscience" language from the 
"Book of Order," Kirkpatrick supported the school board's policy.  He said 
the fact that students themselves are permitted to pray or not pray at 
their own discretion was determinative for his opinion. 
 
    Kirkpatrick's position was opposed by the American Civil Liberties 
Union, which argued that the policy amounted to government support of 
religious expression. 

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