FFRF: Court Decisions on School Prayer 'Never' Honored in South

Matthew Nielson, the 18-year-old Irmo High School graduate suing the Lexington-Richland School District 5 for holding a prayer at commencement, has an extensive support system.

That support, coming mostly from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, is about 19,000 strong.

FFRF acted on behalf of Nielson when Irmo High forced “unwanted exposure to a school-sanctioned prayer” . The foundation aims to represent “freethinkers and the non-religious who find religion in schools."

Gaylor said that although these issues arise in every part of the country, she does see more complaints from the South.

“It’s our impression that in the South and in small towns, the court decisions on prayer have not been honored, ever,” she said. “It takes someone new, who is shocked, to complain, or young people to do something about it.”

ON FRIDAY: We will introduce you to Matthew Nielson and why he has chosen this battle.

Gaylor added that a chronic issue for the organization is dealing with public schools who do not deny that they held religious observances, but want to know which student came forward to complain. FFRF gives these students anonymity when they ask for it, as speaking out against a violation can be difficult and “terribly awkward” for some.

Gaylor said the organization does not ask anything of those that make complaints, and that Nielson and the other students involved in the suit felt supported enough to speak out publicly. Neilson is a member of FFRF and has received a $1,000 scholarship from the foundation for his activism. In 2011, FFRF issued two monetary scholarships to activists who spoke out against graduation prayers.

FFRF is currently battling other government and school lawsuits in areas such as New York, and until recently, in Spartanburg. Last year, the foundation dealt with a similar prayer violation in Laurens.

After three letters from FFRF, Laurens County School District 55 ended its practice of holding polls for student-led prayers, which the organization believes to be unconstitutional. In 2000, the Supreme Court ruled in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe that student-led prayer at football games violates church-state separation.

On the Laurens violation: “We basically won — and didn’t go to court,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of FFRF.

The Wisconsin-based, non-profit organization is the largest association of atheists and agnostics in the country and has members in every state. FFRF has 10 chapters across the U.S.; closest to Columbia are the Raleigh, NC and Talladega, AL chapters.

The organization acts as a church and state “watchdog,” and works to enforce and protect the “constitutional principle of the separation of state and church.” FFRF’s goal is to end church/state relations through education and persuasion, according to its co-president.

As part of its mission to inform and advocate for non-theism, FFRF handles complaints on breaches of church and state, in particular, those from students and families in public schools who are subjected to religious observances. The foundation get so many of these complaints, it has to prioritize.

“I call it a triage,” said Gaylor. “We have to pick the most-urgent cases.”

Gaylor said cases where the violation has not yet occurred are the most important, as the organization will send a “firm but polite” formal letter in hopes that the student’s rights will be respected. That would be a best-case scenario and a victory for the foundation.

FFRF works to enforce the law but typically tries to avoid going to court, said Gaylor.

In the Irmo prayer case, the organization felt it had no better option.

Gaylor said: “With Irmo we’ve got argumentation, denial of the facts, the flouting of the Supreme Court — we had no choice but to go to court.”

She added: “It’s very difficult to go to court. Luckily we found someone to act with local counsel and to take the case for us. We don’t want to go, but there are some issues we can’t compromise on.”