Tangipahoa School Board Prayers Ruled Illegal; ACLU Lawsuit Prompts Federal Court to Uphold First Amendment?s

Religious Liberty Mandate

For immediate release, February 25, 2005.                                                                       

NEW ORLEANS?Based on an ACLU lawsuit, a federal district court has ordered the Tangipahoa Parish School Board to cease the practice of having prayers at its meetings in accordance with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.  The current decision follows on the heels of a consent judgment reached last year on other issues in the same case.  It stopped prayers and the promotion of religion at football games and other school sponsored activities.  The ACLU represents a complaining parent and his children who attend Loranger High School. 

?The court?s well reasoned opinion recognizes the ACLU?s arguments that parents, children and members of the community should not have to pay the price of religious indoctrination to attend a school board meeting,? according to Joe Cook, Executive Director, ACLU of Louisiana.  ?Defendants seem to have the notion that they are not subject to civil law and have ended up wasting tax dollars defending illegal conduct for the third time over the past ten years.? 

Parent and Plaintiff John Doe says, ?All I have ever wanted is to have the School Board and school officials follow the spirit and letter of the law.  Now, the court has had to direct them once again to do what would have made this lawsuit unnecessary in the first place.?  Attorney Ron Wilson remarked, ?We are pleased with the decision and hope that the school board will reform its polices and comply with the law of the land.?

The judge wisely concluded, as did the Sixth Circuit in a similar case, that the public schools and school boards are inherently different from the session of a state legislature.  Therefore, the case at issue fits ?squarely within the history and precedent concerning the school prayer line of cases.?  That means school officials failed in their duty to a)act with a secular or non-religious purpose, b)remain neutral in matters of religion, and c)avoid excessive entanglement with religion.  School board meetings at times, however, with frequent references to God and Jesus Christ, have resembled a Christian revival or prayer meeting more than a place to conduct the business of a secular public school system. 

The original complaint, filed in October of 2003, laid out certain other facts and violations, which the Defendants obviously could not contradict.  Before each home football game at Loranger High School, Reverend Ralph Garner, a teacher and assistant basketball coach at the school, got on the public address system and lead everyone in attendance in a prayer.  The Supreme Court made clear in Santa Fe v. Doe (2000) that such pre-game prayer by students or non-students violates the First Amendment. 

At home football games just prior to opening kick-off, Sammy Messina, head coach, instructed the players to bow their heads, touch someone, and commence saying the Lord?s Prayer.  Also, prayers had been broadcast over the intercom and at assemblies during the school day.  Schools and school officials knew or should have known that they cannot organize, impose, sponsor or participate in religious activities or prayer with students. 

Many people mistakenly believe the myth that separation of church and state implies hostility to religion, while the exact opposite is true.  Founders, like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, believed in the preciousness and sanctity of religious faith.  That principle engendered their determination to protect religion from government interference and keep it neutral in such matters. 

ACLU Cooperating Attorney Ronald L. Wilson of New Orleans represents the Plaintiffs.  The ACLU  is the foremost defender of individual freedom as embodied in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.  A copy of the opinion Doe v. Tangipahoa School Board is at http://www.laaclu.org/PDF_documents/DoevTangiDec.pdf.