Atheist group awarded over $450,000 in South Carolina lawsuit against prayer at high school graduation

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A South Carolina federal judge has awarded an atheist group over $450,000 in attorney’s fees and expenses after it filed a lawsuit to block public prayer at high school graduations, Christian Headlines reports. The award follows a finding last year that there should be limits to student-led prayers at graduation ceremonies. Given on April 14, the award is in respect of legal action initiated by the American Humanist Association (AHA) against Greenville County Schools in 2013. The suit was on behalf of the parents of a pupil who objected to students leading prayer at a graduation ceremony.

Ruling on the case last year, Obama appointee U.S. District Judge Bruce Hendricks said: “The district shall not include a prayer – whether referred to as a prayer, blessing, invocation, benediction, inspirational reading, or otherwise – as part of the official program for a graduation ceremony.”

Judge Hendricks also said students could include prayers in their speeches as long as they had not been pre-planned or approved by the school and provided the student did not ask anyone to join in with actions such as standing or bowing their head. The judge also ordered that graduation programs or fliers advertising a student speaker should have a disclaimer that the student’s remarks did not reflect the views of the school district, the Christian Post reports.

In a statement on the case, AHA spokeswoman Sarah Henry said in 2019: “Students should not be made to feel like outsiders at their own public school, let alone at such a momentous occasion.”

Indicating it may appeal both the award and the original decision, the School District said in a statement: “Throughout this [six-year long] case, the School District has argued that students, like other citizens, have the right to free speech, including that of a religious nature. The School District has and will continue to remain committed to protecting students’ rights to free speech, while remaining neutral to religion.”

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