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By now, I imagine most of my readers have heard about Principal Kevin Lowery’s controversial graduation ceremony speech, delivered at the Cowan Civil Center on May 23, to the students of Lebanon High School, Missouri. The Freedom From Religion Foundation published a letter on June 2, alleging that Principal Lowery had violated the US Constitution. Embarrassingly, the person who authored the letter appears not to know who wrote the American national anthem, and he also misquotes the American Declaration of Independence! The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which is headed by husband-and-wife team Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor (pictured above), should be covering its collective face in shame. This will take a long time for the FFRF to live down. (The text of the FFRF’s letter can also be viewed here.)
For my part, I think Principal Lowery had every right to mention the fact that America’s Declaration of Independence (1776), national anthem (1814), Pledge of Allegiance (last altered in 1954), and official national motto (1956), all contain references to God. The principal was also perfectly correct in his observation that “God is reflected in the very fabric of our nation” – a point which I have argued in a previous post on the Founding Fathers, criticizing a misleading newspaper advertisement by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (New York Times, July 4, 2013, page A7). I do think, however, that he politicized the moment of silence which he asked students at the ceremony to observe, giving it an unnecessarily confrontationist tone. His claim that “we are told that it is inappropriate and even illegal to mention God at high school graduations” was also over the top: while the Supreme Court has ruled against prayer or any official endorsement of religion at high school graduations, there’s no law against mentioning God. Finally, while Principal Lowery’s concern for his students was very evident in his speech, I thought that his decision to reveal the contents of his prayer during the moment of silence was inappropriate. So I am not surprised that several non-religious students who were present at the ceremony have complained about the principal’s speech. Principal Lowery has since apologized for any offense that his comments may have caused, and has said he will strive to avoid causing offense in the future. For my part, I hope he finds a way to keep God in his graduation ceremony speeches, without getting up anyone’s nose.
In today’s post, however, I’d like to draw attention to the letter that the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent to the Superintendent of Lebanon R-III School District, alleging that Principal Lowery has violated the American Constitution. What I find comical about the letter, which was signed by FFRF attorney Patrick C. Elliott (and, I presume, vetted by its co-presidents before being released to the public), is that its inaccurate transcription of Principal Lowery’s speech reveals a profound ignorance of American history on the part of its author. It contains mistakes that a Grade 5 kid should be able to correct. Incidentally, had the author of the letter gone to the Website of Hemant Mehta, a.k.a. the Friendly Atheist, he would have discovered a more accurate transcription of Principal Lowery’s address, dated June 1, 2014 (although it does contain a couple of minor errors).
So let’s have a look at the FFRF’s appalling transcription of the principal’s speech, beginning with paragraph 1:
I’d like to remind our graduates that our nation’s motto is, in fact, “In God We Trust.” If you’re ever in doubt, just take a quick look at our nation’s currency and you’ll find out for yourself. A simpler phrase appears in the final stanza of The Star-Spangled Banner. Written in 1814 by Francis Scott P. and later adopted as the National Anthem on March 3, 1931 by U.S. President Herbert Hoover, the song contains an early reference to a variation of this phrase, “And this be our motto: ‘In god be our trust.'”
And here’s what Principal Lowery actually said. The speech captured on video begins mid-sentence with a reference to the Pledge of Allegiance, which, as most readers will be aware, was last changed on Flag Day in 1954, when the words “under God” were added:
… the most important line of all, “One Nation, Under God.” [Cheers and applause] In fact, I’d like to remind our graduates that our nation’s motto is, in fact, “In God We Trust.” If you’re ever in doubt, just take a quick look at our nation’s currency and you’ll find out for yourself. A similar phrase appears in the final stanza of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key and later adopted as the U.S. National Anthem on March 3, 1931 by U.S. President Herbert Hoover, the song contains an early reference to a variation of this phrase: “And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.'”
So the FFRF thinks that America’s national anthem was written by Francis Scott P.? That one had me laughing out loud: a child could have corrected them on that point. And the FFRF got the last line of the fourth and final stanza of “The Star-Spangled Banner” wrong too: it’s “And this be our motto – ‘In God is our Trust'”.
The FFRF’s transcription of the second paragraph misquotes the American Declaration of Independence:
In one of the most famous sentences in American History, taken from our Declaration of Independence reads, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This passage has come to represent a moral standard to which the United States should always strive. And even though God is reflected in the very fabric of our nation, we are told that it is inappropriate and even illegal to mention God at high school graduations, let alone say a prayer. So while it would not be politically correct for us to have an official prayer this evening, I would like for us to have a moment of silence in honor of tonight’s graduates.
Here’s what Principal Lowery actually said:
And one of the most famous sentences in American history, taken from our Declaration of Independence, reads, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This passage has come to represent a moral standard to which the United States should always strive. And even though God is reflected in the very fabric of our nation, we are told that it is inappropriate and even illegal to mention God at high school graduations, let alone say a prayer. So while it would not be politically correct for us to have an official prayer this evening, I would like for us to have a moment of silence in honor of tonight’s graduates.
If the FFRF had chosen to look at an online image of the original version of the American Declaration of Independence (transcript available here), they would have noticed that “Creator” is spelled with a capital C. Also, the final version of the Declaration uses the word “unalienable,” as Principal Lowery correctly did in his graduation ceremony speech. (See here for more information.) Some earlier drafts of the Declaration used the word “inalienable,” and they also had the word “creator” written with a small “c”, but these were not the final version that was adopted.
But the most damaging part of the transcript was the third paragraph, which the FFRF transcribed in a way that made it look as though Principal Lowery was praying aloud in public, whereas he was doing nothing of the sort. After praying silently during a moment of reflection, he told the audience what he had asked God, when he prayed. Now, that might be inappropriate behavior for a public school principal, but it’s not a prayer, and therefore does not fall foul of the U.S. Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court.
Here’s the FFRF’s transcript of the third paragraph:
Thank you. And just in case you’re interested, during my moment of silence, I gave thanks to God for these great students, their parents, their teachers, and for this community. [Applause.] Oh, I’m not finished. I ask God to protect these students as they go their separate ways into the world. I ask God to reveal Himself in every possible way, and I ask God to watch over them, to protect them, and to bless them with self-fulfillment, with compassion, inner peace, and personal prosperity. Thank you for indulging your thoughts I had during my moment of silence, and yes, God is still important, and let us not ever forget it.
And here’s what Principal Lowery actually said:
Thank you. And just in case you’re interested, during my moment of silence, I gave thanks to God for these great students, their parents, their teachers, and for this community. [Applause.] Oh, I’m not finished. I asked God to protect these students as they go their separate ways into the world. I asked God to avail Himself in every possible way, and I asked God to watch over them, to protect them, and to bless them with self-fulfillment, with compassion, inner peace, and personal prosperity. Thank you for indulging the thoughts I had during my moment of silence. And yes, God is still important, and let us not ever forget it.
To be as fair as possible, I should acknowledge that the Youtube clip of Principal Lowery’s speech isn’t clear enough to determine whether he said “ask” or “asked.” However, it should be obvious from the context that the FFRF transcript of the third paragraph makes no grammatical sense: it switches from the past tense (“I gave thanks to God for these great students”) to the present tense (“I ask God to protect these students as they go their separate ways into the world”), and back to the past tense again at the end (“Thank you for indulging your thoughts I had during my moment of silence”). The reference to “your thoughts I had” also makes no grammatical sense; it should be “the thoughts I had,” and the audio makes that clear.
I am forced to conclude that the FFRF did a very careless job of transcribing Principal Lowery’s speech, and in the process, revealed their rather limited knowledge of American history.
Professor Jerry Coyne, who first alerted the FFRF to Principal Lowery’s speech, argues that it’s a clear violation of the First Amendment:
What is most offensive is that Mr. Lowery not only called for a moment of silence (a common way around the prohibition of prayer in public schools), but then told the audience that he used his own moment of silence to ask for God’s blessing.
Lowery’s behavior during that graduation ceremony is a flagrant violation of the First Amendment, and of court decisions that prayer in public schools by officials of those schools is illegal.
The FFRF evidently concurs with Professor Coyne’s legal reasoning:
Mr. Lowery “gave thanks to God for these great students,” “ask[ed] God to reveal Himself in every possible way,” and also said “God is still important, and let us never forget it.” A reasonable observer would conclude that as principal, Mr. Lowery’s statements were being endorsed by the school. In addition, while a “moment of silence” during a graduation could be constitutionally permissible, it must not be used by school personnel to proselytize their own personal religious views, which is exactly what Mr. Lowery did…
Mr. Lowery acknowledges in his graduation speech that it is unconstitutional for school officials to pray at school-sponsored graduation events. Yet Mr. Lowery does exactly that by saying “during my moment of silence I gave thanks to God” and “God is still important, and let us not forget it.”
Regarding the narrow legal question of whether Principal Lowery was praying aloud in public, I have already argued above that he was doing nothing of the kind.
The FFRF states that “it is unconstitutional for school officials to pray at school-sponsored graduation events.” This is false. It is is unconstitutional for school officials to pray aloud at school-sponsored graduation events, and to ask students to pray. It is perfectly constitutional for a school official to pray silently, however.
The FFRF contends that Principal Lowery was proselytizing his own personal religious views, in saying what he did. However, nothing that he said identified him as a member of any particular religion, so this claim appears highly doubtful, legally speaking.
Regarding the broader legal question of whether Mr. Lowery’s statements about what he prayed for during the moment of silence could be reasonably viewed by a neutral observer as being endorsed by the school, I find it hard to offer an opinion. However, it seems to me that Principal Lowery is skating on thin legal ice, but just staying within the bounds of the law, as it currently stands.
In conclusion: I regard the attempts to bully Principal Lowery into refraining from all mention of God during future graduation ceremony speeches as odious and cowardly, and as tantamount to harassment. (See this post by Jerry Coyne for a particularly disgusting example: he took his revenge on a member of the Lebanon High School who wrote him an email asking whether Coyne was blogging during work hours, by posting the man’s photo on his Web page and revealing the name of the bank where he worked!) However, I also think that Principal Kevin Lowery should have shown greater tact and less stridency in the last part of his speech on the Youtube clip.
For another account of Principal Lowery’s speech, see here.