Are "Government-Approved" Prayers the Wave of the Future?

By Allie Martin
AFR News

(AgapePress) - The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with a Texas school district that refused to let a student pray at graduation ceremonies because the student refused to let school officials review her prayer in advance.

The court refused to hear the case of Furly vs. Aledo ISD after a panel of judges from the Fifth Circuit had earlier dismissed the case.  The lawsuit was originally filed by high school senior Katherine Furley against the Aledo Independent School District near Dallas after the school refused to change its policy that prohibits student prayers--except for those reviewed and edited by school officials.

Kelly Shackelford, who is with the Liberty Legal Institute, says the Fifth Circuit's decision was a surprise.

"Whatever happened to separation of church and state?," Shackelford asks.   "The term they always like to use doesn't seem to bother them now that the government is actually controlling the very words that people are praying.  It's an outrageous violation of the First Amendment."

He says the court's decision sets a dangerous precedent.

"It's shocking," he says.  "You just wonder what kind of country you live in when the government is now being told it has the right to review and edit the prayers of its citizens."

Now Shackelford says the only appeal available is to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Copyright 2000, Agape Press.