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Judge Ronald Lagueux, ruling in Alquist vs City of Cranston, Jan 11, 2012 (pdf). Jessica Alquist protested an overtly Christian prayer banner hung at her school. The school district not only refused to remove the unconstitutional prayer banner, they refused a compromise offered by Alquist to secularize the prayer by removing the words “Our Heavenly Father” and “Amen.”
The Court refrains from second-guessing the expressed motives of the Committee members, but nonetheless must point out that tradition is a murky and dangerous bog. While all agree that some traditions should be honored, others must be put to rest as our national values and notions of tolerance and diversity evolve. At any rate, no amount of history and tradition can cure a constitutional infraction.
[…]
The retention of the Prayer Mural is no doubt a nod to Cranston West’s tradition and history, yet that nod reflects the nostalgia felt by some members of the community who remember fondly when the community was sufficiently homogeneous that the religion of its majority could be practiced in public schools with impunity.
”Judge Ronald Lagueux, ruling in Alquist vs City of Cranston, Jan 11, 2012 (pdf). Jessica Alquist protested an overtly Christian prayer banner hung at her school. The school district not only refused to remove the unconstitutional prayer banner, they refused a compromise offered by Alquist to secularize the prayer by removing the words “Our Heavenly Father” and “Amen.”
