Yesterday, a U.S. District Court sided in favor of Jessica Ahlquist that the prayer banner being displayed in her Rhode Island High School was unconstitutional! If you haven't been following the story, here's what happened: Jessica knew that this banner didn't belong in a public school, so she brought this to the attention of school officials.
What she didn't expect was the heated controversy that ensued. Instead of the school officials realizing that the banner was unconstitutional and taking it down, they instead voted to keep it up. Despite taunting and name-calling from her peers and their parents, when the ACLU decided to take up the issue in court (after the school wouldn't even take it down at their request), she volunteered to be the plaintiff.
And unsurprisingly, the courts upheld the constitution.
The ruling is really empowering in light of all that Jessica has had to go through, and it even explicitly affirms her courageousness! Here are some highlights (courtesy of Hemant Mehta of Friendly Atheist).
The Court rules that Plaintiff [Ahlquist] has standing in this matter and rules in her favor on the merits of this dispute. The Court also orders the immediate removal of the Prayer Mural from the auditorium at Cranston West.…The Court refrains from second-guessing the expressed motives of the Committee members, but nonetheless must point out that tradition is a murky and dangerous bog. While all agree that some traditions should be honored, others must be put to rest as our national values and notions of tolerance and diversity evolve. At any rate, no amount of history and tradition can cure a constitutional infraction. The Court concludes that Cranston’s purposes in installing and, more recently, voting to retain the Prayer Mural are not clearly secular.…Plaintiff is clearly an articulate and courageous young woman, who took a brave stand, particularly in light of the hostile response she has received from her community.
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