Irmo Grad who Filed Prayer Lawsuit to Continue Activism

It's been three months since Matthew “Max” Nielson, along with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, filed a lawsuit against Richland-Lexington School District Five for holding a prayer at graduation.

To move forward with the case, the plaintiffs must wait for the school board to file necessary paperwork, which he does not anticipate any time soon.

“I don’t think anyone expects anything to move quickly in a situation like this,” he said. “Things are not moving as fast as possible. We could be waiting a decade.”

Mark Bounds, the district's public information officer, said the district couldn't comment on the lawsuit other than to say "it's an ongoing legal matter and we're hoping that it will come out in our favor."

Without the FFRF, Nielson said he would likely not have had the resources to file a lawsuit against the commencement prayer.

“I don’t have the personal funds to be able to hire a lawyer,” he said. “I probably would've done a petition, put up various posters around school and tried to raise hell that way.”

“They’re really great to work with,” he said of the organization.

Nielson became a member of the FFRF after talking with officials from the organization, and was a member prior to filing a complaint. He recently met Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the foundation at the Secular Student Alliance convention in Columbus, Ohio. The SSA promotes secular and science-based ideas and works to empower non-religious students.

Nielson, an atheist, suffered unwanted exposure to a school-sanctioned prayer after several attempts to negotiate his constitutional concerns with its delivery. Letters filed by FFRF and Nielson’s meetings with the principal and superintendent were unsuccessful in having the prayer removed from the commencement program. The plaintiffs’ attorney, Aaron Kozloski, cites a violation of Nielson's rights under the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, according to the complaint.

District Five policy states that commencement prayers “will be determined by a majority vote of the graduating senior class with the advice and counsel of the principal,” and will be given by a volunteer.

In defense of the prayer, Superintendent Steve Hefner wrote to Max in an email following their meeting: "I most note that I disagree with your characterization that the prayer in question is State-sponsorship or endorsement of the Christian faith. The decision to offer a prayer tomorrow was initiated by and will be offered by students, who in so doing are exercising their Freedom of Religion, with the School District's only involvement being administrative as far as the distribution and counting of the ballots."

The Supreme Court has ruled on several similar cases, such as Engel v. Vitale in 1962, in which the court found that school-sponsored prayers, even if voluntary, are unconstitutional.

“I feel like the attorney we have is probably the best for this sort of thing,” said Nielson of Kozloski, who in 2008 won a case in which the federal court ruled a Christian-themed license plate unconstitutional.

“I can’t imagine why or how we could not win this case. It’s been ruled upon by the Supreme Court and lower courts many times, it’s not a legally controversial thing,” he added.

Nielson is not seeking financial payout in the lawsuit, only that the school district end the practice of administering prayers.

Nielson received a $1,000 scholarship from FFRF for his activism, an effort he “no doubt” intends to continue at the collegiate level. He said he has already been in contact with SSA at College of Charleston, where he will attend in the fall.

“I’m actually going for political science,” he said of incorporating his interests into his major.  “With maybe English or business or journalism. I might end up in law school afterward, but we’ll see.”

Nielson said that a mentor throughout the case has been Harrison Hopkins of Laurens, SC. Last year, Hopkins contested the Laurens County School District 55 practice of allowing a vote for graduation prayer, and with the help of the FFRF, the district ended the poll.

Hopkins, too, received a scholarship from FFRF for activism, and attends Presbyterian College, where he created an SSA group on campus.  

“We had a road trip together to Amherst,” said Hopkins of Nielson. “Like a 14 to 15 hour drive, so we’re pretty close.”

He added: “At the beginning, I gave him some advice and told him what to say what not to say - sort of told him what to expect if it goes to court.”

Hopkins said that although he thinks a prayer was given at his high school’s graduation, he expects the Irmo lawsuit to set an example.

“I’m sort of expecting to hear that within like a year or two there aren’t going to be anymore prayers at my high school,” he said. “[Nielson] is pretty much guaranteed to win.”

Nielson recently recruited students Jacob Zupon and Dakota McMillan to join to lawsuit as plaintiffs to ensure the court’s decision is upheld and to “maintain standing through a couple years.” These students are also now members of Freedom From Religion Foundation.