Batt Sees No Harm In Prayer At Graduation Governor Exhorts Idaho Falls Seniors At Pre-Graduation Prayer Service

Republican Gov. Phil Batt has joined the growing chorus of Idahoans disagreeing with last month’s federal appellate court ban on prayer at high school graduation ceremonies.

“I’ve never been able to see what harm a non-denominational prayer would have at a high school graduation,” the governor said recently in Idaho Falls, where he spoke at a pre-graduation prayer service.

But he said that as long as the ban is the law of the land as interpreted by the courts, school districts must abide by it.

In late May, U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge signed an order carrying out a directive of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that its ban on prayer at graduation be enforced while the decision is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The appellate court decided to enforce the ban after learning that one of the students challenging the tradition of graduation prayer was graduating from Grangeville High School this spring.

The governor later told 1995 graduates of Idaho Falls High School that leaving high school is the beginning of their education.

“This is not an ending point for any of you,” he said. “Whatever you do in life, your education will go on and on.”

Batt urged the graduates to be stewards of the earth, set goals for themselves, be compassionate and take responsibility for their actions. In what he called an “age of victimization,” the governor said it is especially important for students not to blame their problems on the system.

Armed with values such as honesty, thrift, faith, humility and patriotism, the next generation cannot go wrong, he said.

“The future is in your hands,” Batt said, “and it’s a bright future indeed because these values are integrated in you.”