And I say extreme for a couple of reasons. One, the judge, Fred Biery, didn’t just rule that no one can offer a prayer at a public school graduation. We’ve all been down that road before, and what usually happens is someone ends up offering a non-sectarian prayer to a non-specific deity. But Chief US District Judge Fred Biery went farther — much farther. He ruled:
Judge Biery’s ruling banned students and other speakers from using religious language in their speeches. Among the banned words or phrases are: “join in prayer,” “bow their heads,” “amen,” and “prayer.”
And:
The ruling bans students and other speakers at the event from using religious language including terms such as “join in prayer,” “bow their heads,” or even the words “amen” and “prayer.” Furthermore, he ordered the district to remove the terms “invocation” and “benediction” from the printed graduation program. The judges order states that the terms “shall be replaced with ‘opening remarks’ and ‘closing remarks.”
The judge didn’t just ban a prayer, he is telling speakers to remove specific words from their speeches because they might have a religious connotation. This is secular tyranny.
And the ruling impacts the graduation at Medina Valley High School in Castroville, which is in a deeply Catholic part of Texas. The majority want the prayers and the freedom to use other English words that may or may not carry religious import. It’s just one family, recently moved in from South Dakota, who do not. So rather than suffer a few seconds of what they consider to be mumbo jumbo, they sue to force their opinions on everyone else, and thanks a judge, have succeeded.
Do I need to note that Biery is a Clinton appointee, and then note further that elections matter? Well, elections do matter, and electing Democrats nearly always delivers activist judges who turn into tyrants on the bench. Such is the case with Judge Fred Biery, Clinton appointee, graduate of Texas Lutheran and Southern Methodist University.
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