Rhode Island: In a victory for secular America and the US Constitution, a public school district committee voted not to appeal a federal court decision ordering the removal of a prayer banner displayed in the Cranston West High School auditorium.
The vote came Thursday night after hours of heated debate and months of controversy. The Cranston School Committee voted 5-2 not to appeal U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux’s order to remove the controversial prayer banner located in the auditorium of the Rhode Island public high school.
High school student Jessica Ahlquist has been the public face behind the much publicized battle to remove the unconstitutional prayer banner displayed at Cranston High School West. Jessica, a student at Cranston, faced prejudice, adversity, and religious intolerance from Christian extremists in her fight to remove the unconstitutional prayer banner.
The prayer banner episode brought out the worst in many residents of Cranston. In what some found to be an open display of religious bigotry, Rhode Island State Representative Peter Palumbo referred to teen atheist Jessica Ahlquist as “an evil little thing." In addition to calling Ahlquist an “evil little thing,” Palumbo also made the claim that “she (Ahlquist) is being coerced by evil people;” the implication being that atheists and other secular Americans are “evil.”
Indeed, the hostility and threats directed towards Ahlquist were so intense that at times the 16 year old high school student required a police escort. In addition, four different florists in the Cranston area refused to deliver flowers to Jessica. At least one florist claimed to be frightened of the potential backlash from angry Christians who did not want young Jessica to receive any flowers.
The banner was put up in 1963, but has been covered since the court ruling. Lawyers for Ahlquist are asking the court to order Cranston to pay $173,000 for legal fees.
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