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Court Enjoins Holding of Public School Commencement At Christian Chuch

By Howard M. Friedman

In Does 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 v. Enfield Public Schools, (D CT, May 31, 2010), a Connecticut federal district court issued a preliminary injunction barring Enfield Public Schools from holding 2010 graduation ceremonies for two high schools at First Cathedral, a Christian church in Bloomfield, CT. The court concluded that holding the ceremonies there would likely violate the Establishment Clause. It found that a reasonable observer attending graduation at First Cathedral, viewing the large cross on top of the building, a large cross on stage and other religious symbols in the building, would conclude that the Enfield Public Schools endorse the Christian religion. It is unlikely that the school board would be successful in covering or hiding all religious symbols in the building, and the school board's determining which symbols are religious and need covering creates excessive entanglement of government with religion. The perception of endorsement is furthered by the history of pressure exerted by the Family Institute of Connecticut in favor of the First Cathedral location. ACLU of Connecticut issued a press release reporting on the decision. (See prior related posting.) The Hartford Courant yesterday reported that the Enfield Public Schools will seek an expedited appeal of the decision to the 2nd Circuit. Graduation ceremonies are scheduled for June 23 and 24.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on June 01, 2010 (boomark / email).