INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The top-ranked senior at a suburban Indianapolis high school is asking a federal judge to stop a graduation prayer that the class voted to approve.
The lawsuit by 18-year-old Eric Workman claims the prayer and the vote at Greenwood High School just south of the city unconstitutionally subject religious practice to majority rule. The lawsuit contends the vote and the prayer violate the First Amendment.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed suit Thursday on Workman's behalf in federal court in Indianapolis. The suit seeks an injunction halting the prayer and future votes and asks for nominal damages.
"The Supreme Court has said even having the vote is unconstitutional, let alone having the prayer, because you can't make religious practice subject to majority rule," said ACLU legal director Ken Falk.
"You can't have a vote whether or not to violate somebody's constitutional rights," he said. "It just doesn't work that way."
Falk pointed to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2000 that Texas public schools could not begin football games with a student-led prayer that was voted on by students. In 1992, the high court ruled clergy-led prayers at public school graduations were unconstitutional.
Greenwood school officials did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
The Indiana lawsuit says seniors at the 1,164-student public school were required to attend an assembly in September at which they were issued preprinted ballots asking if they wished to have a prayer at the May 28 graduation.
The suit says a school employee told Workman there were "a number" of dissenting votes, but a majority of seniors favored having a prayer.
Workman is currently ranked first in his class and expects to speak at graduation, the suit says. He declined comment through Falk, his attorney.
Workman objects to the graduation prayer because "he does not believe that anyone should involuntarily be subjected to prayer and religious beliefs" and that people at the ceremony should not be compelled to take part in a religious exercise, the lawsuit says.
He "also objects to the school allowing a majority of students to determine that prayer will occur," the suit says.
Micah Clark, executive director of the American Family Association of Indiana, said the lawsuit was a sign of intolerance.
"One thing you learn as an adult is that you have to tolerate all sorts of things, and part of being an adult is learning to tolerate speech you don't like," he said.
He said it was unfortunate that Workman felt he had to "silence the views of the majority."
Instead of holding graduation prayers on school property, many classes hold off-site baccalaureates. Falk said those are allowed as long as they aren't sanctioned or paid for by the school.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
