Sunday, October 16, 2011
Religious or Historical Banner?
Jessica Ahlquist is a 16-year-old high school Junior, who strongly believes in her religion of Atheism. Ahlquist attends Cranston High School West, in Rhode Island, where a prayer banner is hung on the wall of the auditorium inside of the high school. Ahlquist has been an atheist since she was 10 and feels very strongly about the prayer banner being taken down and is suing the school because the banner is offensive to non-Christians and “it’s the right thing to do.” However, the school and the attorney that is defending the city of Cranston believes “the mural is a historical artifact from the school’s early days in the 1960’s and serves no religious purpose.” Although the banner is a sentimental, historical artifact to the town of Cranston, it is challenging to argue that something is secular when the words “Amen” and “Our Heavenly Father” are mentioned. The mural has been hung since 1963 and developed school traditions such as their mascot, creed and their school colors. In opposition to the mural, Ahlquist created a Facebook page to provoke support in removing the mural from the school. Ahlquist’s supporters were limited, given the school’s strong sense of patriotism for the prayer, however, her lawyer’s stand on the matter is airtight, "The prayer is not…anything like a Pledge of Allegiance. In contrast, this is a prayer, it's a religious communication and it's in a public school."
This issue is extremely important because it challenges the idea of whether a religious object can be secularized or not. In addition, this matter also challenges the acceptability of religion in a public institution. If I were to put myself in the position of a student at Cranston High, I would probably be very upset with Ahlquist for trying to take something from the school that has proved to mean to much to the school’s history, and has not provoked any issues for over forty years until now. Unfortunately, Ahlquist has a valid point, and something cannot be secular if it refers to religious terms, and especially if it refers to one specific religion. Hanging up a Christian banner in a public institution is not acceptable, because it is not fair to all the people who believe in other religions or no religion at all. In order to make Cranston High a non-religiously controversial school, the banner must be taken down, or a banner must be hung up of every other religion, therefore no religion is ostracized, however, this option is almost impossible.
The school says that they force no student to recite the prayer; it just simply hangs there for students and the community to see and be proud of. Therefore, I understand Ahlquist’s lack of support for the notion to sue the school. First of all, Cranston High is a public school, suing a public institution will only result in less money trickling down towards the education the students at the High school will receive. Also, I feel as though Ahlquist is aggrandizing the situation a bit more than necessary; she only has another year left in Cranston High, the ending of her high school career would be manageable in a school with one religious banner.
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