Big Vote on Prayer Banner Appeal Thursday

The long saga over the controversial prayer banner hanging in the Cranston High School West auditorium could be nearing its end. Or, it could be the beginning of another round of protracted and heated debate.

It all depends on how the School Committee will vote Thursday night when they finally decide whether to appeal the court ruling ordering the banner be removed.

The meeting will likely draw an overflow crowd to Cranston High School East. It was originally scheduled to be held at Western Hills Middle School, where most School Committee meetings occur, but the incredible interest in the issue compelled the committee to make the obvious choice to relocate.

Cranston Police will be on hand to make sure the crowd stays cool. Both atheists, Catholics, supporters and opponents of the banner will be out en mass to urge the committee to vote one way or another.

The Humanists of Rhode Island announced earlier this week that they would be at the meeting "to support the Constitution." They're bringing along Ellery Schempp, the student at the center of the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case Abington School District v. Schempp, "which declared public school sanctioned Bible readings unconstitutional," the release stated.

Members of the Rhode Island Council of Churches will also be there to speak against appeal. The same group gathered last month for a press conference during which they decried violent speech and anger that arose after the court decision was rendered.

And it is expected that hundreds will be on hand to tell the committee to appeal. Many will be wearing T-shirts that depict the banner that have been selling locally to raise money for the banner's preservation.

Also at the meeting will be members of BASICS, which stands for Benefiting All Students in Cranston Schools. But instead of speaking out for against the banner, they'll be selling coffee, water and baked goods in the hopes of raising money for the music programs the organization has been funding to make up for budget cuts in recent years.

The banner was erected in the auditorium at the high school in 1963. It begins with the phrase "Our Heavenly Father" and ends with "Amen," and hung in place for more than 50 years before it became the center of controversy. David Bradley, the author of the prayer and a graduate of the class of 1963, said he was tasked to write the prayer and the creed as a student council member in 1960 at the request of his adviser and the school administration.

The ACLU raised the issue in July of 2010 after a complaint from a parent. In a letter to the district, Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU, wrote "there can be no question that the school auditorium’s prayer display violates a core principle of the First Amendment."

The district refused to remove the banner and instead, held a series of public hearings during which several School Committee members and a majority of residents who attended argued in favor of keeping the banner in place, citing its "historical significance" and highlighting its positive and moral message. The committee ultimately voted to defend the banner and the ACLU promptly filed suit last May.

Their plaintiff is 16-year-old Jessica Ahlquist, an articulate high school junior who has been the subject of intense reporting by local media and at-times troubling focus of local talk radio stations. She has been dubbed a "rock star" for the atheist community, "The Atheist Child" by many pro-banner supporters and was threatened with violence and rape on Twitter after the court decision, prompting Cranston Police to post a detail outside her house and establish a constant presence at her high school.

The drama culminated in the filing of a civil rights complaint by the Freedom from Religion Foundation last month after several local florists refused delivery of flowers to Ahlquist, stating on a receipt "I will not deliver to this person."

The question the School Committee must ask is whether the convictions of some are enough to warrant continuing the battle. While the United States was not founded on the principal of majority rules, but instead, on the notion that democracy by definition should protect the minority from possible oppression from the majority, it does appear that the loudest voices in this debate are of those who support the banner. But with the ACLU expecting $173,000 in attorneys fees already and the city being on the hook for more if they lose, an appeal could be a big risk legally and financially.

The meeting is in the auditorium at Cranston High School East at 7 p.m.

To browse our extensive coverage of the prayer banner issue over the past year-and-a-half, click HERE.

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