> The student has every right to thank God and/or offer a prayer.
And on his/her own time, they are free to do so. But while on the governments dime... not so much.
Wrong. The government or my employer cannot stop me from mentioning God or from prayer. Granted, if I start a prayer in the middle of a meeting, that is uncalled for. Just as it would be in a church meeting and every five minutes, I offered up a prayer. A student can give a prayer doing a grad speech or whatever. It is called civil disobidience and any law or judge would kill their career having a student, student body, whatever, arrested for doing so. Just because it is a law does not make it right and if it is a bad law or an unlawful order, it is your duty to disobey.