The problem with your AC anology is that the young lady didn't barge up on stage, she was invited to speak. I agree that graduation is not the proper place for an altar call, however, since we are a free people she is free to make her inapproriate altar call. The government must respect her freedom and leave her alone.
By the way if you think they should have forcibly removed her from the stage, what level of violence should the government use to get her away from the microphone? A backhand to the face? A billy club to the back of the head? A tazer to the abdomen? .40 S&W to central body mass?
Don't give the statists on here any ideas.
If you read the linked article, apparently the school had an existing policy barring recognizing a particular religion or prayer in school ceremonies, but it was only selectively enforced. Probably using common sense. My guess, this girl's main accomplishment will be the barring of any and all religious references of any kind in school ceremonies. ...................................
The Jonesboro Public School District does have a policy on religious beliefs and school ceremonies.“Our policy is to not recognize any particular religion and not to recognize religion, period,” said Mixon, “In this case, the student was on the school program as giving a prayer, and that does go against our policies.”
“I'm here to tell you that God is someone, that he is amazing,” said Reed during her speech, “He will love you through everything. He will praise you when you are down. All you have to do is give your heart to Him. And before we leave, I want to give you that opportunity.”
But Mixon says it's a policy that will be enforced and a problem that won't happen again.
“It has occurred from time to time that students speak their mind about religion, or about prayer at graduation. The problem comes when the school recognizes that,” said Mixon, “And we had a lapse where our policy about prayer was apparently not followed that is still being investigated, but we can assure the ACLU and the public that that will not happen again.”
I mostly agree, insofar as she was engaged in actual speech, and graduates are typically given a pretty wide latitude in what they choose to say. However, being invited to speak is not a blank check to do whatever you want -- e.g., profanity, monopolizing the stage for hours, haranguing the audience at length about 'Bush's illegal war for oil', etc. The school, as provider of the forum, can limit the speech in length, content, etc. And this particular encouragement for audience members to "come forward to accept Jesus" -- what if someone takes her up on it? How long is that going to take? Do we then give the respondent some stage time to give a testimony of their faith? It's ridiculous. This sort of stunt is neither the reason the school put on the event nor the reason the audience came. It's an abuse of the audience.
By the way if you think they should have forcibly removed her from the stage, what level of violence should the government use to get her away from the microphone? A backhand to the face? A billy club to the back of the head? A tazer to the abdomen? .40 S&W to central body mass?
Most likely she could be wrestled away by a couple of strong men.