No Decision Yet Regarding Prayer on Auditorium Wall
We brought this story to you earlier this year and sadly, according to a report from yesterday on the Providence Journal website, the school has not yet made a decision about whether or not to remove the prayer from the wall.
Click here to read the full story. See excerpt below.
CRANSTON, R.I. -- No decision was made Tuesday on whether to keep, reword, or remove a prayer that has been posted at the Cranston High School West auditorium since the building opened in 1958.
After 1½ hours of heated discussion, a School Committee subcommittee voted to further research the issue.
"Father, I assure you of one thing," School Committee Chairman Michael A. Traficante told the Rev. Roman Manchester, who attended the subcommittee's first meeting Tuesday. "It will be researched to the nth (degree) before this committee makes a recommendation" to the full School Committee.
School prayer:
"Our Heavenly Father,
Grant us each day the desire to do our best,
To grow mentally and morally as well as physically,
To be kind and helpful to our classmates and teachers,
To be honest with ourselves as well as with others,
Help us to be good sports and smile when we lose as well as when we win,
Teach us the value of true friendship,
Help us always to conduct ourselves so as to bring credit to Cranston High School West.
Amen."
The next meeting of the committee is yet to be scheduled.
The controversy started last summer when the local affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the district asking officials to remove the prayer, saying it violates the First Amendment and the constitutional principle of separation of church and state.