[Kenton]

Totally inappropriate and exactly the type of thing that should not be done in a public graduation ceremony.

I gotta agree, SoothingDave. It was a public University graduation, not a Baptist tent meeting. This young woman hijacked the stage and turned a prayer (which was allowed) into an evengelical appeal directed solely to Christians, with no regard at all to anybody else.

It really gets me upset when schools try to impose restrictions on Christians, but in this case, the school allowed the prayer, but the young woman did something intentionally provactive intended to exclude non-Christians, (including the parents of non-Christian graduates and those graduates), who must have been mortified.

And please don't try to justify this as a First Amendment issue. The First Amendment is not a shield for criticism for stupidity.

This showed very bad judgement on her part and on the part of anybody in a position of authority who may have known about it in advance

[muawiyah]

Hey, you sure got it backwards. The young lady asked NON-Christians to come forward. Christians have already done so previously and have no need to. The young lady turned 100% of her attention to others.

BTW, Christians are required to call folks to Christ. Other groups look at proselytizing as being somehow dirty. Obviously conflict might occur from time to time, but when a Christian accepts you to accept the Lord he is hardly excluding you.

The government does not have the authority under our Constitution to prohibit this sort of thing.

[muawiyah]

BTW, whether or not the young lady acted "stupidly", the issue is that the ACLU wants to bring in the government's jackbooted thugs to suppress her religious behavior.

It's not a simple matter of criticism.

[goldstategop]

The First Amendment allows people to say even stupid things. And I'm glad we live in a country where that's allowed. You and SoothingDave are free to think she's wrong. And others think she's right, too. Where the ACLU has screwed up is in thinking we need the government to police certain thoughts that people have. When we start going down that road, soon no one can say anything of consequence.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[sasafras]

Time to get off planet pluto and come to earth - " the school allowed the prayer"

The school didnt allow the prayer the student did if of her own free will. Quit acting like you are so offended. This is a Christian nation - founded by Christians under Christian philosophy. There is no seperation of church and state in the Constitution.

Damn PC police everywhere you turn - always worried about offending someone. Time to get over yourself and quit acting like the world centers around you. America is 90% Christian which means that we make acceptance for other religions but that doesnt mean we cant practice our own in any venue we please.