Aside from the overt racism of some in the town, I was amazed at the public-school-organized prayer that nobody seemed to question, such as in the locker room, and (if I remember right) in the prom kick-off meeting. That's plainly a violation of the US constitution.
shareThe Constitution does not directly prohibit it, but the interpretation of the Supreme Court does. It's a small but important distinction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_church_and_state_in_the_Uni ted_States
It's a small but important distinction.
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In a lot of towns in Mississippi, they still have morning prayers and prayer before lunch every day. They abolished it and the Pleadge of Allegiance when I was in elementary school in the late 80's at my school due to several Atheist and Jehovah's Witness children complaining, but it's alarmingly common in some areas.
I think it's not questioned in some of the more rural areas in the state due to people's fear retribution if they speak out against it.
1) nice troll.
2) technically it was funded by Morgan Freeman, a private citizen, so although it was organized by the school, no government funds were involved, nor was it on school grounds.
3) It's hardly "plainly" a violation of the US Constitution. In fact, the only specific instances of public school prayer that have been deemed "unconstitutional" to this day are: (a) prayer led IN school over a PA system or by a faculty/staff member (aka a gov't employee) i.e. prayer that all students are exposed to AND (b) prayer over a P.A. system before a school football game (in a school football stadium).
4) This is a tiny town in Mississippi, where it appeared that most people were either Christian, or didn't care enough to make a fuss.
5) If you wanted to bring this case up to the Supreme Court (which is probably where it would make it eventually), you would have to either be a parent of one of the attending children or one of the attendees.
6) This is a non-mandatory event held off campus in a private facility.
So good luck winning that case.
oh and btw, I'm and atheist, and though I was also somewhat surprised to hear "in Jesus name we pray" at the prom, I honestly wasn't bothered at all by it.