Court OKs barring religious tunes (Ave Maria) at graduation

sfgate.com ^ | 090809 | b Egelko

[VU4G10]

A divided federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a school district's refusal to let a band play a religious piece at a high school graduation, saying the superintendent had reasonably decided to avoid a constitutional controversy by ordering a secular program.

The district's veto of an instrumental version of "Ave Maria" by the German composer Franz Biebl at the 2006 graduation ceremony in Everett, Wash., did not violate students' freedom of speech or religion, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

The court said it wasn't necessarily forbidding religious music at graduation - unlike prayers, which the U.S. Supreme Court has barred at high school commencements as an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. But the appeals court said it was reasonable for school officials, concerned about an appearance of religious favoritism, to "prohibit the playing of an obviously religious piece."

[Deo volente]

Ninth Circus...yawn...

[popdonnelly]

Super. Now school districts can ban all the great classical music that was written for the Christian faith. That’s real progress! That’s real education! They can replace it with hip-hop.

I think I’ll move to a country where they still respect Western Civilization. If I can find one.

[GeronL]

free speech is dead. did anyone notice?

[IbJensen]

That court is comprised of communists and homosexuals.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

Those judges would have been dragged outside and thrashed, back in the good old days.

[DemforBush]

“Now school districts can ban all the great classical music that was written for the Christian faith.”

Yup, good point. Many of the great classical works were Christian-themed or inspired. Shall we now ban Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5 or most of J.S. Bach’s work?

Foo on the school board and the silly ruling. Hooray for great classical music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhKcp1N7seE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OFGNDsLs7U

[Reddy]

How would the 9th Circus feel about THIS “religious” piece written by Igor Stravinsky?.. The Rite of Spring (subtitled “Scenes of Pagan Russia”). “I saw in my imagination a solemn pagan rite; sage elders, seated in a circle, watched a young girl dance herself to death. They were sacrificing her to propitiate the god of Spring.”-Stravinsky (The audience trashed the theatre on opening night...)

[Jacquerie]

Yes, free speech is dead.

So is the vision expressed by the Founders in our Declaration of Independence, for freedom of religious expression is an unalienable right.

[RedStateNotShirt]

I would like to take this opportunity to officially begin ingratiating myself to Anthony Kennedy.

[layman]

It's amazing how this issue can find it's way through the cumbersome court system... all the way through the appeals process ... in the few short months it must have taken for the school orchestra to select it's presentation for graduation. Had they just played it anyway they would have discovered that the ruling was unenforceable and the attendees would have loved it.

[Napoleon Solo]

So much for the Battle Hymn of the Republic!

[myknowledge]

I think the aspect of Western civilization is degraded to make way for a pagan new world order. The thing I hate the most.

[visualops]

concerned about an appearance of religious favoritism

I am astounded that a person with the position of judge believes this is a defensible line of reasoning.