Stated Clerk supports right to prayer

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (PNS) – Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly Stated Clerk Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick has filed an amicus curiae brief in an Idaho case supporting the right of a high school student valedictorian to offer a prayer at a graduation ceremony.

The case before the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit concerned the Madison County (Idaho) School Board’s policy allowing for student-led prayer at a graduation ceremony. The school board had adopted a policy that allowed the top four students of each graduating class to choose to deliver an "address, poem, reading, song, musical presentation, prayer, or any other pronouncement of their choosing." Speakers are permitted to pray or not pray at their own initiative.

Citing the "God Alone Is Lord of the Conscience" language from the "Book of Order," Kirkpatrick supported the school board’s policy. He said the fact that students themselves are permitted to pray or not pray at their own discretion was determinative for his opinion.

Kirkpatrick’s position was opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which argued that the policy amounted to government support of religious expression.