Graduation Site Debate Continues

Despite the fact that the town of Enfield will again be holding its two high school graduations on school grounds this June, the debate continues on the merits of holding such ceremonies in a place of worship.

Last spring, representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the Enfield school board for voting to hold graduation at the First Cathedral in Bloomfield. The ACLU filed the suit on behalf of two Enfield High School students and three parents.

U.S. District Judge Janet Hall issued a temporary injunction in favor of the plaintiffs, saying conducting graduation at the cathedral violated the Constitutional requirement that the government remain neutral in matters of religion. She said forcing families to attend First Cathedral in order to participate in graduation would amount to religious coercion, and ordered the Enfield school board to find other sites for the ceremonies.

The temporary injunction applied only to the 2010 graduation, but the ACLU is continuing to pursue a permanent injunction banning commencement ceremonies at religious facilities.

The Enfield case was the focal point of a debate Wednesday night at the University of Connecticut School of Law in Hartford, pitting ACLU executive director Anthony Romero against Becket Fund for Religious Liberty founder Kevin "Seamus" Hasson.

Hasson replaced Jay Alan Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, who was originally scheduled to debate Romero but withdrew. The ACLJ has defended the Enfield school board in the case.

In his opening remarks, Romero said, "Parents of all denominations should be concerned that their children have become political footballs." Hasson, noting that towns used to hold legislative sessions in church buildings, countered, "I honestly don't see what the fuss is about. I don't see what's unconstitutional about it."

Romero argued non-Christian children should not be forced to attend public school ceremonies in a Christian church. "We shouldn't be expecting a Sikh-born boy having to be in a church," he said. "Signs proclaiming 'Jesus Christ is Lord' would make a Jewish or Buddhist or atheist kid feel like a pariah."

Hasson told a story about a case 20 years in San Francisco, when a group of residents wanted a parking barrier removed from the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. "The local politicians dragged their feet in typical bureaucracy, until a group of people began worshipping the barrier," he said. "All of a sudden, the effort to remove it from the garden intensified."

Romero specifically targeted the Enfield school board, stating, "They're trying to use the power of government to force religious dogma."

Fermi High School is scheduled to graduate on Friday, June 24 on the school property. Enfield High School's ceremonies are tentatively set for the following evening, but a final decision has not been made due to the that the date be changed. The student, Patrick Knighton, is a Seventh Day Adventist, and would be unable to attend graduation on a Saturday due to observance of the Sabbath.

A special meeting of the school board to discuss the issue has been scheduled for Monday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the BOE conference room, 27 Shaker Rd.