Students protest federal judge’s ruling on prayer

RUSSELL SPRINGS, Ky. — About 200 seniors at a high school graduation in Kentucky stood to recite the Lord’s Prayer May 19 in response to a federal judge banning prayer at the ceremony after an American Civil Liberties Union-affiliated lawsuit. School officials said voluntary prayer had been a part of graduations at Russell County High School in Russell Springs for decades, but on May 16, an anonymous graduating senior collaborated with the ACLU of Kentucky to file a lawsuit claiming he was offended by graduation prayers.

U.S. District Judge Joseph McKinley granted a temporary restraining order about 12 hours before the start of graduation, ordering school officials and a peer-elected student not to proceed with a scheduled prayer in the ceremony. But during the principal’s opening remarks, students stood and said the Lord’s Prayer in unison, drawing a standing ovation of support from the crowd of 2,000 people, according to The Associated Press.