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'Friend or foe' -- Have it your way, Liberty Counsel tells schools

A Christian law firm has kicked off an annual campaign meant to protect the constitutional rights of graduating public school students.



Liberty Counsel's annual "Friend or Foe" campaign is meant to increase awareness of constitutional rights of students to pray during graduation ceremonies. It includes prayer wristbands reminding students to pray at graduation, as well as throughout the year; and it provides students access (via the legal group's website) to a free legal memo on graduation prayer.

Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, says as part of the campaign, his firm will come to the defense of schools that allow students to exercise their constitutional rights and, in turn, are threatened with legal action from such groups as the American Civil Liberties Union.

"Liberty Counsel will defend public schools or persons who do the right thing and acknowledge the rights of students to be able to give prayer or religious viewpoints," says Staver.

However, school districts that violate students' constitutional rights will be held accountable, he says. "Liberty Counsel will be the foe of those schools that try to censor student free speech," the attorney promises.

Staver explains that schools must remain neutral when it comes to graduation prayers. "First of all, [students] can go to the podium -- whether they're the valedictorian, salutatorian, or elected by their class -- to thank their friends and family," he says. "But they can also thank God and Jesus Christ."

According to the Liberty Counsel founder, it is considered "student speech" -- speech that is "clearly protected by the First Amendment" -- when a student does offers such thanks on his or her own volition. It would be considered "school speech" if the school were directing the content, he adds.