Is it my imagine or are some people being entirely too lax with throwing around the word “censorship”? That’s a pretty harsh term that carries a connotation of silencing a message completely. It does not seem appropriate in this situation. There are 365 days in a year and 24 hours in a day. Graduation takes, what, a couple of hours? It’s not like the kids (and perhaps some of the parents) have no other opportunity to hear or perform this piece. It takes two to litigate, and if you think the school is being obstinate then what about the plaintiffs?

This is true of the speeches, too. No doubt some religious students would rather hear a religious sermon than the dull speech about commencement being a beginning, not an end, that they will hear. But the school system gets to decide that, too.

Sometimes I wonder at what point we turned the corner and made religion the focus of public schools. No one worries that kids graduate from public schools these days barely able to read and write and know nothing about history and less about math and science. But let some kid want to wear a “Jump for Jesus” t-shirt, and some uptight school adminsitrator object to it, and we are willing to spend thousands of dollars litigating about it.

I think the constitutional prohibition against the mixing of church and state should be enforced, and I further, and more importantly, think that schools should get back to their job — teaching — and not worry so much about what music they play at their graduation ceremonies.