HELENA, Mont. — A Montana bill that seeks to ensure fair competition in school sports by prohibiting biological males from joining women’s teams will now advance to the full state House of Representatives after narrowly being approved by a legislative committee.

“[T]he legislature finds that there are ‘inherent differences between men and women,’ and that these differences ‘remain cause for celebration but not for denigration of the members of either sex or for artificial contracts on an individual’s opportunity,'” House Bill 112, presented by Rep. John Fuller, R-Whitefish, reads in part.

Quoting from an article from British psychologist Neel Burton, the legislation notes that “men generally have ‘denser, stronger bones, tendons, and ligaments’ and ‘larger hearts, greater lung volume per body mass, a higher red blood cell count, and higher hemoglobin.”

Higher levels of testosterone in men also contribute to their “body fat content, the storage and use of carbohydrates, and the development of type 2 muscle fibers, all of which result in men being able to generate higher speed and power during physical activity,” the bill outlines.

The legislation consequently notes that sports teams are separated by sex for a reason: to promote fair competition.

It then requires that “interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural, or club athletic teams or sports that are sponsored by a public elementary or high school, a public institution of higher education, or any school or institution whose students or teams compete against a public school or institution of higher education” expressly designate sports teams as being for males, females or co-ed.

“Athletic teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls may not be open to students of the male sex,” the bill simply states.

It enshrines the right of female students who lose athletic opportunity due to the unlawful inclusion of biological males to take legal action, as well as any school that faces adverse action from an athletic association or other similar body.

Fuller is himself a former women’s soccer coach and believes allowing boys who identify as girls who compete against females is “is egregious and wrong.”

He also believes that laws that require biological males to take hormone suppressors for a year before being allowed to join women’s teams is equally as wrong.

“Drugs in sports is a growing concern,” Fuller said, according to the Montana Free Press. “What is wrong with this picture, where we are requiring athletes of a certain particular portion of the population to take large amounts of drugs, drugs we do not know what the long-term effects will be, in order for them to be eligible to compete? I contend that that’s a path to perdition.”

During the hearing for the bill, some agreed with Fuller, including Beth Stelzer, founder of the Save Women’s Sports coalition, who told the committee that transgender competition against women “undermines the sole purpose of Title IX. ”

“It is unethical, unfair, unnecessary, unscientific and unsound,” she said.

“None of us wants to be defined by the things that we did when we were younger. I certainly don’t want to be defined by the things that I did when I was younger,” also commented Jeff Laszloffy of the Christian Montana Family Foundation. “And that’s the point. Children should not make irreversible decisions at a time in life when they’re going through the greatest change. Let’s give them a chance to grow up first.”

However, liberal female minister Laura Jean Allen, who leads First Christian Church in Helena, presented a letter signed by 43 “clergy” members who oppose the legislation. Other organizations such as the Montana Gender Alliance and the Montana Human Rights Network are also against the effort.

The House Judiciary Committee narrowly sided with Fuller on Thursday, voting 11-8 to allow the bill to move to the full House for a vote.

Read the legislation in full here. 

As previously reported, on Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed an executive order suggesting that his administrative policy will be to allow “transgenders” nationwide to use their preferred restroom and locker room, and to play on the sports team that corresponds with their “gender identity.”

It is not known how his order will impact states such as Montana who will potentially pass their own legislation conversely protecting women’s sports.

A similar bill has been has been filed in North Dakota and Oklahoma, and federal legislation was also presented last month by Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.

THE GOSPEL

While some view transgenderism as a medical condition, Christians believe the matter is also a spiritual issue at its root — one that stems from the same predicament all men everywhere face due to the Fall.

The Bible teaches that all are born with the Adamic sin nature, having various innate feelings and inclinations that are contrary to the law of God and being utterly incapable of breaking free by themselves.

“Bitter experience teaches that the imprisoning net clings too tightly to be stripped from our limbs by our own efforts. Nay rather, the net and the captive are one, and he who tries to cast off the oppression which hinders him from following that which is good is trying to cast off himself,” wrote the late preacher and Bible commentator Alexander Maclaren.

Jesus outlined in John 3:5-7 that men must be regenerated by the second birth, and be transformed from being in Adam to being a new creation in Christ, or they cannot see the kingdom of Heaven. It is known in Christianity as the doctrine of regeneration.

The Bible explains the dichotomy of flesh and spirit, stating in Romans 8:5-8, “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”

“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

“But to men writhing in the grip of a sinful past, or paralyzed beyond writhing and indifferent, because [they are] hopeless, or because they have come to like their captivity,” said Maclaren, “comes one whose name is ‘The Breaker,’ whose mission it is to proclaim liberty to the captives, and whose hand laid on the cords that bind a soul, causes them to drop harmless from the limbs and sets the bondsman free.”

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SEATTLE — A homosexual professor who works as a nursing instructor at Seattle Pacific University, a private Christian-identified institution in Washington State, has sued the school for discrimination for declining to hire him for a full-time teaching job.

According to the lawsuit filed on Monday, Jéaux Rinedahl was hired in 2019 as a part-time adjunct faculty instructor in the School of Health Services/Lydia Green Nursing Program, where he taught undergraduate students. Rinedahl professes to be a Christian but is “married” to another man.

The school itself apparently welcomes homosexuals, offering various “LGBT” scholarships to high school seniors. Rinedahl also states that “the person who hired [him] congratulated him on his recent marriage and asked for a wedding photograph of [him] and his husband.”

However, a 2005 “Statement on Human Sexuality” posted to the Seattle Pacific website outlines that the university holds to a biblical view of sexuality, as it believes that sexual activity is to be reserved for marriage, and that between a man a woman.

“We believe it is in the context of the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman that the full expression of sexuality is to be experienced and celebrated and that such a commitment is part of God’s plan for human flourishing,” it reads in part. “Within the teaching of our religious tradition, we affirm that sexual experience is intended between a man and a woman.”

In May 2020, the university advertised that it had a position open for a full-time assistant/associate professor of nursing. Rinedahl applied for the job, submitting an application and agreeing to Seattle Pacific’s Statement of Faith, which does not mention homosexuality.

In the application, he was also asked to provide a description of how he would support the school’s commitment to diversity and cultural  in his classes.

“I firmly attest to the beauty that cultural diversity brings to our communities to enhance self-governance where everyones [sic] opinion is respected regardless of the color of their skin, whether they are attracted to the same or opposite sex, regardless of where they were born, or what they believe in,” Rinedahl wrote. “When we all work together cohesively and practice respect for diversity, our world is a better place.”

According to the legal challenge, the assistant dean of nursing informed Rinedahl a month later that he his application was rejected because he was “not heterosexual.” However, he has reportedly been asked to continue teaching in his capacity as adjunct faculty.

“While Rinedahl appreciates SPU’s recognition of and appreciation for his strong teaching credentials, he remains puzzled both by SPU’s blatant hypocrisy and its discriminatory animus in its hiring practices,” the lawsuit states. “SPU clearly has no issues or concerns with Rinedahl serving as an adjunct nursing instructor, but it refuses to recognize his hard work, skill, and experience by making him a permanent faculty member simply because he is gay.”

“This is hurtful, demeaning, and demoralizing to Rinedahl.”

Citing the Washington Law Against Discrimination and the Seattle Municipal Code, Rinedahl seeks financial damages for loss of pay and benefits, as well as for “loss of enjoyment of life, pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress, and humiliation.”

Read the lawsuit in full here.

THE GOSPEL

Photo Credit: Edwin Andrade/Unsplash

While a common argument among those who struggle with feelings toward the same sex is that they were “born this way,” the Bible teaches that all are born with the Adamic sin nature (Romans 5:19), having various inherent feelings and inclinations that are contrary to the law of God and being utterly incapable of changing by themselves (Job 14:4).

All men, therefore, face the same predicament, being natural lawbreakers and guilty in the sight of God (Romans 3:19), evoking His wrath.

“[W]e all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others,” Ephesians 2:3 outlines.

“All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way,” Isaiah 53:6 reads, “and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Photo Credit: Tony Melena/Public Domain Pictures

It is why Jesus came: to do what men could not do for themselves, to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

Scripture outlines that Jesus came to be the propitiation for men’s sins (1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10), a doctrine in Christianity known as substitutionary atonement, and to save men from the wrath of God for their violations against His law (Romans 4:25, Romans 5:9, Romans 5:16), a doctrine known as justification.

In light of Christ laying down his life for His enemies (Romans 5:10), God calls all men to repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15).

Acts 2:38-40 exhorts, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

The Bible also teaches about regeneration, as in addition to sparing guilty men from eternal punishment, Christ sent his Holy Spirit to make those who would repent and believe new creatures in the here and now, with new desires and an ability to do what is pleasing in the sight of God by His indwelling and empowerment (Ezekiel 11:19, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Titus 3:5).

The late Anglican preacher J.C. Ryle once explained, “The Lord Jesus has undertaken everything that His people’s souls require — not only to deliver them from the guilt of their sins by His atoning death but from the dominion of their sins by placing in their hearts the Holy Spirit; not only to justify them but also to sanctify them.”

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BISMARCK, N.D. — 10 Republican lawmakers in North Dakota have proposed a bill requiring student athletes to compete as their birth sex in order to protect fairness in sports.

“The state, a political subdivision of the state, or an entity that receives public funding from the state or from a political subdivision of the state may not allow an individual who was assigned the opposite sex at birth to participate on an athletic team sponsored or funded by the state, political subdivision, or entity and which is exclusively for females or exclusively for males,” House Bill 1298 reads in part.

It also prohibits publicly-funded athletic facilities, stadiums and fields from being used to host events where those of the opposite sex compete on exclusively male or female teams.

Read the legislation in full here.

Main sponsor Rep. Ben Koppelman, R-West Fargo, told The Jamestown Sun that he doesn’t see the bill as being against “transgenders” per se but rather maintaining fairness in athletic competitions.

“I kind of dismiss the idea that it should be about trans, because it’s not about trans. It’s about fair competition,” he told the outlet. “What it’s based on is science that says, ‘Here are the physiological differences between people when they are born.’ And these are irreversible things.”

“I would never want my daughter to play in sports and have a guy beat her out in track or out in javelin, where she has no chance,” also remarked co-sponsor Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg. “I can’t fathom that transgender people won’t understand that.”

The Sun explains that a 2015 policy under the North Dakota High School Activities Association allows students who identify as the opposite sex to compete in accordance with their “gender identity” in certain cases, such as if a male has undergone testosterone suppression for one year. Koppelman’s bill would negate that provision.

House Minority Leader Josh Boschee, D-Fargo, opposes the legislation, telling local television station KFYR that he feels there are more important issues to focus on.

“It’s disappointing that this type of legislation is being introduced here in North Dakota. We’re in the middle of a public health crisis, and this is what some Republican legislators seem to think is a priority right now when it hasn’t been an issue in North Dakota,” he stated.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) also considers the bill an “attack” on those who struggle with their gender, remarking that it only leaves two choices: compete with a sex that they don’t identify with or don’t compete at all.

Co-sponsor Myrdal acknowledged that transgenders may indeed “lose some opportunities” in seeking to live as the opposite sex, but added, “[Y]ou’re not going to take all women’s and girls’ opportunities away just because you wish to do that.”

As previously reported, while some view transgenderism as a medical condition, Christians believe the matter is also a spiritual issue at its root — one that stems from the same predicament all men everywhere face due to the Fall.

The Bible teaches that all are born with the Adamic sin nature, having various inherent feelings and inclinations that are contrary to the law of God and being utterly incapable of changing by themselves.

Jesus outlined in John 3:5-7 that men must be regenerated by the second birth, and be transformed from being in Adam to being a new creation in Christ, or they cannot see the kingdom of Heaven. It is known in Christianity as the doctrine of regeneration.

Romans 7:18 explains, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”

But 1 Corinthians 15:45 cheers, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam (Jesus) became a life-giving spirit.”

Galatians 5:16-17 therefore teaches, “This I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”



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BOSTON — The Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts is currently weighing a case surrounding whether or not a Christian college can consider its professors as tantamount to “ministers” and may consequently legally deny an employee a promotion without being held liable for discrimination due to the “ministerial exception” legal doctrine based on the First Amendment.

A former professor at Gordon College accuses the school of declining to promote her because she criticized the school’s policies against homosexual behavior, while the college says that it did so because of her insufficient scholarship and cites the “ministerial exception” to defend its decision from legal liability.

“To decide that question, the court need look no further than her own actions,” attorney Eric Baxter with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty said on Monday during virtual oral argument. “[DeWeese-Boyd] admits that Gordon expected her to participate actively in the spiritual formation of its students and to help them apply biblical principles to their vocations.”

“When she applied at Gordon, she touted her seminary training and mission work as of particular benefit to students and promised to provide a distinctly Christian education,” he noted. “In seeking advancements, she consistently described her work as integrally Christian, as furthering the kingdom of God and as participation in the ministry of Christian reconciliation.”

As previously reported, in 2017, Margaret DeWeese-Boyd, then an assistant professor of sociology at Gordon College, filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, claiming that she had wrongfully been denied a promotion because of her criticism of the school’s policy prohibiting homosexual behavior.

Gordon College, which according to its website, aims to “deepen the faith [of students] by integrating Christian beliefs and practice into all aspects of [the] educational experience,” prohibits sexual activity outside of marriage in its Life and Conduct Statement—including between those of the same sex.

The school also holds to the scriptural position that God created the woman for the man, as outlined in the book of Genesis.

“The Gordon community is expected to refrain from any sexual intercourse — heterosexual or homosexual; premarital or extramarital — outside of the marriage covenant,” an explanation of the college’s policy on homosexuality reads.

Gordon notes that its lifestyle statement does not refer to those that struggle with attractions to those of the same sex, but only prohibits engaging in homosexual behavior. The school’s policies also forbid drunkenness, profanity, blasphemy, lying and other behaviors that are contrary to biblical law.

DeWeese-Boyd had been a vocal opponent of the college’s policy on homosexuality and had organized training sessions and events surrounding homosexual rights. The faculty Senate had recommended that she be promoted, but in 2017, Gordon College President D. Michael Lindsay declined to upgrade the assistant professor to a full teaching position.

DeWeese-Boyd then filed a complaint, and it was later announced that all seven members of the faculty Senate had resigned. The matter soon went to court and the college argued that the “ministerial exception” to anti-discrimination law applied in the situation as its professors are considered as imparting spiritual truth to students.

While Gordon College argued that the reason she was not promoted was because of her inadequate scholarship, such as not publishing any papers since 2008 — and not due to her objection to the college’s policies, it said that the ministerial exception still applies even when the reason for denying a promotion is not related to religion.

In April, Judge Jeffrey T. Karp of the Massachusetts Superior Court sided in part with DeWeese-Boyd, finding that while Gordon college is indeed a religious institution, the professor did not perform ministerial duties.

“Here, although DeWeese-Boyd was expected to integrate the principles and concepts that underlie the Christian evangelical tradition with her teaching, she had no religious duties and did not actively promote the tenets of evangelical Christianity,” he wrote.

“Based on the record before the court, the court concludes that Gordon’s requirement of the integration of faith and teaching by a social work professor did not involve any expectation that she would actively proselytize or preach religious tenets or doctrine to the students in her classes,” Karp stated.

DeWeese-Boyd’s attorney, Hillary Schwab, had made a similar argument before the commonwealth’s high court, arguing, “She performed no religious or ministerial functions for the college whatsoever. She did not: teach religion or the Bible; lead chapel services; take students to chapel services or other religious services; deliver sermons at chapel services; select liturgy, hymns, or other content for chapel services; and/or conduct Bible studies.”

During oral argument on Monday, the seven justices of the Supreme Judicial Court seemed to wrestle with when to consider someone  a minister, asking Baxter if the employment discrimination exception would apply to, for instance, a math teacher.

“So, if there’s a biology teacher doing stem cell research, that might be a secular subject as to which there’s value laden implications, and so that person would be a minister?” asked Justice Dailia Wendlandt.

“I don’t understand how you make the distinction of how everybody in this school is not under the ministerial exception,” similarly remarked Justice Elspeth Cypher. “[N]o matter what you’re teaching, its integrating their faith. So, why aren’t all the teachers ministers?”

“There would have to be evidence that the professor was there, was using her teaching to convey the faith and to form students in the faith, which is going to be … much more difficult in the situation of a bio-sciences professor than a social science [professor], where professor DeWeese-Boyd herself said that everything she did was working toward applying Christian principles to reform society,” Baxter said.

Amicus briefs were submitted by supporters on both sides of the matter, including the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, which argued, “At Christian colleges and universities, all courses are infused with faith. That is the distinctive promise a typical religious college makes to students and their families — that all instruction will be shaped by the school’s particular theological understandings. Thus, the social-work course, the math course, and the English literature course are all taught and studied from a faith-based perspective.”

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CINCINNATI, Ohio — The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has granted an injunction to nine faith-based schools who sued the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department (TLCHD) in Ohio for temporarily banning in-person instruction while permitting some secular facilities to remain open.

“In Lucas County, the plaintiffs’ schools are closed, while gyms, tanning salons, office buildings, and the Hollywood Casino remain open,” the unanimous three-judge panel noted on Thursday. “The resolution’s restrictions therefore impose greater burdens on the plaintiffs’ conduct than on secular conduct.”

“The Department’s closure of plaintiffs’ schools is thus subject to strict scrutiny. The Department does not argue that its action can survive that scrutiny. Nor do we see any reason why it would,” it said. “The closure of the plaintiffs’ schools therefore violates their
rights under the Free Exercise Clause, which means they should succeed on the merits of their appeal.”

As previously reported, on Nov. 25, TLCHD passed Resolution No. 2020.11.189, which prohibited in-person instruction for grades 7-12, both public and private, until Jan. 11. While it granted exceptions for special religious classes and ceremonies, all day in-person schooling was not permitted.

The Ohio Christian Education Network (representing six schools) and three separate faith-based schools filed suit to challenge the restriction, arguing that other facilities are allowed to stay open for public use, while schools must close their doors.

“If Toledo residents want to crowd the stage while an AC/DC tribute band howls Back in Black, play a few hands of blackjack, or slice into a steak inside Final Cut Steak & Seafood, Hollywood Casino Toledo remains open for business seven days a week,” the legal challenge stated.

“While the biology lab and gymnasium at St. John’s Jesuit High School & Academy were forcibly closed by TLCHD, Toledo residents can still gather around the squat rack at the Fitness19 location off Sylvania Avenue or hop in a tanning bed at the Tanlines location off Monroe Street,” it explained.

On Dec. 16, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Helmick, nominated to the bench by then-President Barack Obama, sided with the health department, opining that the resolution “does not ‘single out’ parochial schools for harsher treatment than secular schools receive.”

The schools appealed, and on Dec. 31, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Helmick’s decision, finding that the schools were nonetheless subject to stricter regulation than “comparable secular actors” — such as gyms and tanning salons, thus violating their free exercise of religion. It sent the matter back to his attention for further deliberation.

“The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department is enjoined, during the pendency of this appeal, from enforcing Resolution No. 2020.11.189 or otherwise prohibiting in-person attendance at the plaintiffs’ schools,” the panel wrote.

Read the ruling in full here.

The group Citizens for Community Values, which operates as the Ohio Christian Education Network, applauded the decision.

“The First Amendment does not take a holiday break. It was clear from the outset that the Lucas County Health Board’s order closing schools violated the Constitution,” President Aaron Baer said in a statement. “It is indefensible and irrational to block children from accessing in-person instruction, while allowing casinos, gyms, liquor stores, and other public places to remain open.”

“Lucas County families have suffered plenty through this pandemic, and to unreasonably deny their children in-person education is unconscionable,” he opined. “[The] order is a victory for families, for religious freedom, and for all those willing to courageously stand up against unnecessary and overreaching government orders.”

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GREENVILLE, S.C. — A school district in South Carolina has reached a settlement with the American Humanist Association (AHA), ending a seven-year legal battle that began when the parents of a fifth grader complained about the religious aspects of an elementary school graduation ceremony.

According to the Greenville Post and Courier, the Greenville County School Board voted 8-3 to settle with AHA instead of continuing to battle the matter in court.

The compromise agreement means that the district will pay AHA $187,000 in attorneys’ fees (the district was originally ordered in court to pay $450,00), while also allowing students to include religious speech and prayers at graduation ceremonies, as long as their actions are not sponsored, scheduled or pre-approved by the school district.

As previously reported, the parents of a fifth grader contacted the AHA in 2013 to complain that Mountain View Elementary School had held its graduation ceremony at the chapel on the campus of North Greenville University, a Christian institution in Traveler’s Rest. They also cited that prayers had been presented at the event by two students.

The prayers, according to reports, had been written by the children and were reviewed by school officials before being presented.

In response to the complaint, AHA wrote to the Greenville County School District, demanding that it change the location for future events and that it discontinue the presentation of prayers at school ceremonies.

The district responded by slightly adjusting its policies to ensure that any religious venue was “devoid of religious iconography” and that any prayer was student-led and initiated.

“Prohibiting such independent student speech would go beyond showing neutrality toward religion but instead demonstrate an impermissible hostility toward religion,” it wrote. “If a student is selected to speak based upon genuinely neutral criteria such as class rank or academic merit, that student should have the same ability to decide to deliver a religious message or prayer as another student has the ability to decide to speak about an inspirational secular book or role model.”

Being dissatisfied with the response, AHA filed a lawsuit in federal court, requesting an injunction in an attempt to force an end to the practices via court order.

U.S. District Court Judge George Ross Anderson first heard the case, and reportedly scoffed at AHA’s request for an injunction against the Greenville School District, stating that it was “making a mountain out of a molehill.” The chapel aspect of the lawsuit was later dismissed, but the matter of graduation prayer remained before the court.

In 2015, U.S. District Judge Bruce Howe Hendricks ruled partly in favor of AHA, but did not ban Christian prayers at graduation altogether. While Hendricks opined that school-sponsored prayers are unconstitutional, she stated that “spontaneous” student prayer is allowable in that it does not “improperly tangle the State with religion.”

AHA initially wanted to end student prayer and religious speech altogether.

As the case continued, in 2017, Hendricks ruled that the district’s past use of Turner Chapel for graduation ceremonies violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

“The fact that the district chose to hold the ceremony (which included school-endorsed Christian prayers) in a clearly Christian place of worship in the presence of religious iconography, including, among other things, a cross on the podium and eight stained glass windows depicting Christian imagery, only further created a likelihood that observers would perceive the district as endorsing a particular set of religious beliefs,” she outlined.

Hendricks also noted that it appeared that schools within the district were continuing to officially include invocations at graduation ceremonies, and that, according to one parent, the song “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” was sung by the Wade Hampton High School Choir during both the 2015 and 2016 ceremonies.

In 2019, she again ruled that the school district may not formally present student prayers during graduation ceremonies, nor may it use religious music for the event.

“The district shall not include a prayer – whether referred to as a prayer, blessing, invocation, benediction, inspirational reading, or otherwise – as part of the official program for a graduation ceremony,” Hendricks wrote. “The district also shall not include an obviously religious piece of music as part of the official program for a graduation ceremony.”

“If school officials review, revise, or edit a student’s remarks in any way prior to the graduation ceremony, then school officials shall ensure that the student’s remarks do not include prayer,” she ordered.

However, if a student’s remarks are not pre-screened by district officials, they may pray of their own volition, but “no other persons may be asked to participate or join in the prayer, for example, by being asked to stand or bow one’s head,” and “no school officials shall join in or otherwise participate in the prayer.”

Hendricks found that “certain of the graduation programs continued to ask the audience to stand for student remarks despite the fact that the district’s own guidance provides that ‘[p]rograms or fliers should not direct the audience or participants to stand for any student message.’”

Even though the “please stand” asterisk in the printed graduation program was deemed by the district to be an oversight or simply for matters of convenience and consistency, she said that “asking a captive audience to stand while a student delivers a prayer indicates that the district’s revised policy as implemented has not effectively ameliorated the district’s longstanding practice of including formal or official prayers at graduation ceremonies.”

Hendricks additionally determined that while the district advised that any prayers were student-initiated and the district provided no input on them, planned prayers were still submitted by students to the district for review, including two prayers in 2017 that generically ended with “in Your name” and “in God’s name.”

“[T]he court agrees with Plaintiff that the district’s practices have resulted in excessive entanglement with religion, as outlined in this order and in the court’s prior orders,” she wrote.

Hendricks issued an injunction against the practice in March of this year.

Instead of continuing to fight the matter, the Greenville County School Board decided earlier this month to enter a settlement with AHA, paying in part for attorney’s fees and agreeing to not be involved with any prayers or religious speech by students.

According to the Greenville Post and Courier, the payment to AHA will come from the district’s insurance policy with Liberty Mutual. The district’s own attorney’s fees are also covered by that policy.

The outlet reports that the three board members who voted against the settlement — Lynda Leventis-Wells, Charles Saylors and Carolyn Styles — wanted to continue to fight and not fold.

Saylors, a Christian, said that his Sunday school class prayed for him, and it had a great impact on him.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever been in church and had 40 people pray on you, but it’s powerful,” he told the outlet. “I’ve promised them — kids, parents and taxpayers — that I would not vote for anything that came across that we were caving in.”



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