(AgapePress) - A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a graduating Virginia high school student who was prohibited from singing a Celine Dion song at her commencement ceremony because of its religious content.
In April 2003, a teacher acting as the senior class adviser at Windsor High School in Virginia told senior Anna Ashby that lyrics to a pop song called "The Prayer" were too religious to be sung at the school's graduation exercises. The student had volunteered along with a classmate to sing at the ceremony in response to a class sponsor's invitation. The lyrics of the students' chosen song, "The Prayer," are framed as a nonsectarian invocation, asking God to "help us to be wise" and, "when we lose our way, lead us to the place, guide us with your grace ..." and also expressing the hope that "each soul will find another soul to love."
But after the Isle of Wight County School District superintendent, Dr. Michael McPherson, reviewed the lyrics of the song, which Ashby had provided at a teacher's request, he instructed Windsor High School officials to tell the two students they would not be allowed to sing at the graduation ceremony. McPherson felt performing the song would violate the school's policy on the separation of church and state, and at a special June 12, 2003, school board meeting, the board defended the decision to forbid the students' performance.
