A group of Ohio graduating seniors upheld school tradition by reciting the Lord’s Prayer even though it had been banned by school officials.
According to Fox news, Seniors at East Liverpool High School had been singing a version of the Lord’s Prayer during their graduation ceremony for 70 years.
This year, school officials axed the song from the graduation program because they were afraid of being sued by the Freedom from Religion Foundation. The atheist group from Wisconsin said the song promoted religion and violated the U.S. Constitution.
School board president Larry Walton told a local NBC News affiliate, “It was a decision made because we don’t have a lot of money and we’d rather hire teachers than pay lawyers.”
The senior class was not happy with the breaking of the longstanding tradition, so they took matters into their own hands. In defiance of the school board and the Freedom from Religion Foundation, the students stood up and recited the famous prayer, which begins, “Our Father who art in heaven,” just after their class valedictorian, Jonathan Montgomery, welcomed the crowd to the graduation.
East Liverpool Superintendent Melissa Watson called the prayer, “totally spontaneous” and something the students wanted to do. She also said the crowd supported it.
Robert Hill, the father of Bobby Hill, one of the senior class members, said he was proud of the students for taking a stand. He said, “I’ve always taught my two boys to stand up for what you believe is right. The same lesson my parents taught me.