Cranston School Prayer Controversy: School Committee Speaks Out
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
School committee members are both defending and criticizing a prayer displayed on the wall of an auditorium of Cranston West High School that has come under fire by the Rhode Island ACLU for violating the separation of church and state.
For nearly half a century, constitutional law has generally sided with those who say that prayer should not be allowed in public schools. One of those cases originated in Rhode Island—the 1992 Supreme Court decision in Lee v. Weisman that a prayer at a school graduation was unconstitutional.
“It may well be in direct contradiction with that ruling,” school committee member Frank Lombardi, who is an attorney, told GoLocalProv.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTCommittee Members: Prayer Has Positive Message
The prayer begins with the words “Heavenly father” and ends with “Amen.” But what’s in the middle of it is a wholesome message that everyone—regardless of religious belief should be able to embrace, school committee members said in interviews with GoLocalProv last night, after a meeting where the issue barely came up.
“Personally I don’t see it as an offensive vehicle, I see it as what seems to be a very positive message to children to maintain integrity, to maintain discipline, to maintain respect, and all of those things,” Lombardi said. “The problem that the objectors are having with it are the words ‘Heavenly father’ and the word ‘Amen.’ I mean short of those two words, it’s really a positive message to everyone.”
The prayer is painted on the auditorium of Cranston West and has been there for 50 years—around the time of two seminal Supreme Court decisions that declared school prayer unconstitutional.
“It’s sort of been an accepted part of the fabric of the community of Cranston West and something that all of the students and the parents at the school want their children to adhere to,” said committee member Stephanie Culhane.
“So I think that probably many parents of various religions have just looked at it and put aside the fact that it says ‘prayer’ and put aside their own religious ideas and thought of it as something they really want their children to adopt,” Culhane added.
But, like Lombardi, Culhane said she thinks it is violation of constitutional law because it contains religious terminology. “‘Heavenly father’ does disenfranchise other religions that don’t have a God-type character or figure in their religion so I would say I think that it does yes,” she said.
ACLU Warns District Prayer Is Illegal
Culhane said the school department has not received any complaints about the matter. She expressed surprise that a parent instead took the issue straight to the Rhode Island ACLU instead of bringing it to the attention of the school committee first.
It turns out that the issue was something the school committee was already aware of.
“It was certainly something that was on our radar to discuss, but we really have a lot of pressing issues that are really important to both the students and the financial welfare of our school department, so it wasn’t something that we were looking to take to task right away,” Culhane said.
But it became much more pressing when the school department received a July 6 letter from the state affiliate of the ACLU, which cited Rhode Island history and constitutional law to argue that the prayer was unquestionably illegal.
“We therefore urge you to take prompt action to remove the prayer display from the school,” the letter stated. “Doing so is not only in keeping with school district policy, it will demonstrate both the school district’s respect for the rights of religious minorities, and its recognition of the importance of complying with the constitution.”
After news reports about the issue surfaced this week, the school committee met in a nonpublic session to address a possible lawsuit. But they did not discuss it during their meeting, instead deferring it to an Aug. 16 meeting, ensuring that the district has adequate time to notify the public.
Culhane would not say how she would vote, but Lombardi said he would not favor going to court over a lawsuit that would cost thousands of dollars and likely end in defeat for the district. Instead of effacing the prayer from the wall, he said it could simply be modified so it does not read like a prayer.
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