Graduation ceremonies in North Carolina's Macon County will avoid religious proselytizing in the future. That is the outcome of a letter sent to Superintendent Dan Brigman from Freedom From Religion Foundation attorney Rebecca Markert concerns about last year's ceremony in which….well… I'll just let you see for yourself:
Brigman didn’t expressly say that the school had erred, but implied that the vetting process had failed when the Rev. Daniel “Cowboy” Stewart was picked as the commencement speaker.
Stewart offered prayers at the graduation and delivered a sermon that involved wrapping a student volunteer in ropes to demonstrate the hold of the devil.
Graduation ceremonies are for all graduating students. Even if a majority of them want to have a religious speaker – as was the case apparently here – the job of safeguarding the religious liberty rights of all falls to school officials. It's not enough to only recognize the mistake after the fact. Kids get just one high school graduation. Steps should be taken before hand to ensure it doesn't turn into a revival ceremony.
