{"id":162,"date":"2009-04-26T11:21:32","date_gmt":"2009-04-26T11:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/04\/graduation-battle-what-does-th.html"},"modified":"2009-04-26T11:21:32","modified_gmt":"2009-04-26T11:21:32","slug":"graduation-battle-what-does-th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/04\/graduation-battle-what-does-th.html","title":{"rendered":"Graduation Battle: What Does Theology Have To Do With It?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jay, let me assure you and all our commentators that I would be similarly upset about a public school graduation in a mosque or in a predominantly GLBT Metropolitan Community Church. The doctrine of this particular church is, of course, relevant because it is recognized in the community as holding views that any reasonable person could predict would make some folks extremely uncomfortable. Secular venues are available and ought to be used.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nLet’s turn to a few of your specific arguments and analogies.  Although
\nyou may be right about “no preaching” occurring that day, we do know
\nfrom past events that church members (apparently not satisfied with
\nmerely getting a rental fee from the government) sometimes  passed out
\nreligious literature after graduation.  More significantly, this venue
\nis designed as a sacred space, a place created for worship.  How many
\nstained glass windows or giant crosses do you find in the average
\ngrange hall or public swimming pool?  It doesn’t lose that character by
\nthe nature of the event happening there.<\/p>\n

I’m not troubled by a
\nmixed public school\/private school basketball tournament that might
\noccasionally end up in the Catholic school gym.  However, as you know,
\nsometimes school districts do schedule events specifically to avoid
\ntimes, like Sunday mornings, where athletics might “compete” with
\nchurchgoing, but then utterly reject accommodation claims of Seventh
\nDay Adventists whose worship is on Saturday.<\/p>\n

And, please Jay, don’t go toward the darker side of your analogy with voting in churches<\/a>. 
\nAmericans United and other groups have been getting increasing numbers
\nof complaints in the past few election cycles about voters having to
\nconfront even more than religious symbols on their way to the polling
\nstations located in religious institutions.  They may find
\nanti-abortion posters or even notices telling congregants how to vote
\non ballot initiatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jay, let me assure you and all our commentators that I would be similarly upset about a public school graduation in a mosque or in a predominantly GLBT Metropolitan Community Church. The doctrine of this particular church is, of course, relevant because it is recognized in the community as holding views that any reasonable person…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,5],"tags":[134,133,132,51,67,136,131,135],"class_list":["post-162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public-schools","category-separation-of-church-and-state","tag-athletics","tag-church-buildings","tag-graduation","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-polling-places","tag-public-schools-2","tag-seventh-day-adventist"],"yoast_head":"\nGraduation Battle: What Does Theology Have To Do With It? - Lynn v. Sekulow<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/04\/graduation-battle-what-does-th.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Graduation Battle: What Does Theology Have To Do With It? - Lynn v. Sekulow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jay, let me assure you and all our commentators that I would be similarly upset about a public school graduation in a mosque or in a predominantly GLBT Metropolitan Community Church. 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