Graduation Prayers

The BBQ Pit
1

So I had my graduation ceremony last night. I got an Associate’s Degree from a technical school for computer networking. I really didn’t want to go to the ceremony and listen to someone rattle off names, most of which I’m unfamiliar with, for a couple of hours. I didn’t want to be on a stage in front of people. I didn’t want to wear an itchy, hot, robe and a dress shirt with a strangulation tie in the middle of the Louisiana summer.

I didn’t have a choice, though. “No ceremony, no degree,” they said. Dress code strictly enforced. (The dress code also required women to wear dresses, which I thought was pretty fucked up, too.) Oh well. At least I bought a clip-on tie. It was hideously ugly, but was one of the only ones Wal-Mart had. Plus, at $6.95, it was a pretty good deal. The clip kind of showed on top (boy, I’m all class, eh?) and I could never get it quite straight, but it beat the hell out of a real tie, which I don’t know how to tie anyway. I’ve only had to wear ties twice in my life and my dad tied them both times.

Anyway, yeah. Graduation prayers. That’s what this rant is about. They’re fucking bullshit.

First I had to listen to a girl’s speech thanking Jesus for carrying her through high school and letting her graduate with “a two-year old child and another on the way.” (Pause for thunderous applause from largely Christian audience.) Never mind that it wasn’t Jesus who let her put the dick down long enough to study, but rather her own damn self, but fine, give the credit to someone who died 1950 years before you were born. Whatever. I don’t care.

She went on to say that she “thinks everyone here would agree” and rambled on about the wonder and inspiration of Jesus. Well, no, you blithering fucking idiot, not everyone here does agree. One of us is sitting here vigorously shaking his head “no” as everyone else cheers.

As annoying as that was, though, it was her speech, and, while it may have been ignorant tripe, it wasn’t a prayer. Her assumption bugged the hell out of me, but I don’t think she should have been prevented from merely thanking God and saying stupid shit.

What did bug me, however, was the benediction, the first words of which, of course, were “Let us all bow our heads in prayer.” I didn’t. I wouldn’t. Fuck that. If it made me stand out, oh well. I didn’t care. They were the ones using the First Amendment as toilet paper, not me.

About halfway through the prayer, my mortarboard cap, the inside of which was marked “sure fit,” popped off my head onto my lap. I snatched it up and tried to put it back on, but it popped off again… and again… and again. By this time, the people around me were starting to chuckle.

“‘Sure fit,’ my ass!,” I exclaimed, just loud enough for the gigglers to hear. That changed the giggles to laughs. I smiled. I’d had trouble with the cap at home, so I knew it would probably pop off eventually, but I really couldn’t have picked a better time for it to happen. Maybe God was on my side. :slight_smile:

2

Yeah, that stuff gets obnoxious. I don’t get as annoyed about it as I do now, but I was when I was in high school, and I have a story that relates . . . Some years before I graduated, someone had fought to get prayer struck from the graduation ceremony there and won. When I graduated, while there was no prayer, there was a “spontaneous” student-led one that was well-known to have actually been planned.

Also, the six valedictorians were probably lucky I didn’t quite match their GPA, otherwise their speech, which they wrote together and each read a verse from, wouldn’t have had any cooperation from me had I been up there with 'em. It was poem about God leading them to their valedictorian-ship.

I squirmed a lot during that ceremony.

I feel your pain. But hey, at least it’s over for you.

3

I cannot BELIEVE they “made” you go to graduation. Ridiculous beyond belief.

The graduation ceremony prayer thing has started to bug me, too. Even when they go out of their way to be all-inclusive, eliminating “Jesus” and inserting something that recognizes that various religions give God alternate names and forms. All very nice, but WHY?

Why should we feel compelled to offer a prayer whenever a bunch of people gather together in a public place? Why? Why appeal to God?

If it’s an academic ceremony we’re talking about, why not trot out something having to do with knowledge or curiosity, instead of religion and faith?

However, I fail to see how your tech school was “using the First Amendment as toilet paper.” (??)

4

I’m with the OP. Had my community college issued a declaration of “no ceremony, no degree,” then there would be the inevitable lawsuit as the degree is granted to recognize academic work completed.

As it so happens, I’m kind of into attending public ceremonies so I’d still go (as I did when I graduated). However, had the person started preaching to the crowd about Jesus or whomever they chose to preach about, I’d probably stand up and say, “Well, I guess church has begun. I’ll be back after the service.” And then left.

5

I remember reading some “feel good” piece, perhaps in Reader’s Digest (which, btw, I’ve stopped reading since they glorified bullfighting), a while back, said feel good piece supposedly showing how right, bright, and good the happening was: a valedictorian went to the podium to deliver his speech; however, the local school board had already warned him that there would be no preachifying & no prayers, so he leaned into the microphone and sneezed. The rest of the assembly shouted, “God bless you.”

How long before these morons realize they’re the ones trivializing deity?

6

Do these help?

7

I think it would probably be as obnoxious if anyone spoke to a mixed crowd with the implication that they are speaking FOR the crowd about whatever ideology they have. Part of the problem with graduation prayers is not that the person giving them is religious or even wishes to express their religious feelings, but rather that it goes far beyond simply expression or explanation to something to claiming to lead others in the communication with their gods. Would people really find it as appropriate if I walked into a mixed crowd of Republicans and Democrats and tried to lead the crowd in expressing their love for all Republican party platforms?

8

Was your technical school a public school?

9

Of fer Pete’s sake. Yes, what was needed here was a basic civics lesson for poor misinformed Cranky.

If you’d simply told me that your school was public, that would have been enough.

10

I am astonished, to say the least. I have gotten a feel for how religion seems to be seen in the US. I think anyone who proposed such a thing here would have simply been laughed at. We tend to be an irreligious nation. Something for which I am profoundly grateful (to people) for.

As to not going…wtf??? I did not go to my university graduation, which I considered dull and uninteresting. Can they withhold your qualification for not going, thus denying your academic achievements? Surely that cannot be legal

11

I have never heard of a college/votech that MADE you go to graduation.

How can they refuse to give you your degree if you’ve fulfilled all requirements? Is it in the student handbook that one of the requirements to graduate is to go to graduation? What school is this, anyway?

Two years ago here in WV we had a case of a supposedly atheist kid slapping a lawsuit on his high school because he didn’t want prayer at his graduation, and he ended up getting his way. Then the little bastard didn’t even SHOW UP for graduation, nor was he planning on going to begin with (what a control freak. Maybe I’d feel differently if he’d actually wanted to be there, but wanting to dictate what’s done at a graduation you’re not even going to? WTF?). What was so cool about all this is the students (who had voted to have prayer at their ceremony) spontaneously stood up and started saying the Lord’s Prayer. Good for them, I say. It’s their ceremony, not the local court’s.

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“Supposedly atheist,” Snoop? Glad to see that it’s not just some sects of Christianity who deign to decide who is and who isn’t what they claim.

At any rate, the individual was availing himself of his rights and at the same time protecting other people’s rights. That “spontaneous” Lord’s Prayer is an assault on the rights of those who don’t hold to that particular religion. In case it’s escaped your notice (and it apparently has), those folks are also part of the graduation.

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should read:

14

If that prayer was spontaneous then my name is Jerry Falwell.

15

:smack: D’oh! When I responded to your post, I was under the impression that I had said it was a public school in the OP. I sure meant to. Obviously I didn’t. Sorry.

I don’t know if it was in the handbook that I lost a couple of years ago. I do know that not only was it in the graduation notice they sent me, but several teachers and school officials verbally underscored the rule. For anyone who doesn’t believe me, I’ll happily scan the notice and post it up on the web when I get home from work in 2-3 hours.

16

What does the First Amendment have to do with anything? Was this a publicly funded school?

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In case you hadn’t seen my previous post when you posted that, yes, it was a public school, friedo.

18

Well that would explain it. :smack:

19

I assure you, they have their reward in full.

20

If they did this before the graduation ceremony started, or after it ended, then no problem. If the ceremony had started, and these kids stood up and interrupted the ceremony to say this prayer, then that’s just rude.