Unfair And Unbalanced: Fox News offers one side of grad prayer story

June 2, 2011 | Filed under: Government-Sponsored Prayer,School Prayer,Views | Posted by: Sandhya Bathija

You may have noticed yesterday that American United’s attorneys succeeded in their efforts to stop a public school in Texas from mandating official prayers as part of graduation.

U.S. District Judge Samuel Frederick Biery Jr. ordered Medina Valley High School to remove prayer from the program and said that students must be told that they may not attempt to lead their peers in prayer or other religious activities during the commencement. Americans United filed Schultz v. Medina Valley Independent School District last week on behalf of a local family whose son was set to graduate this weekend.

Of course, the decision has angered some people in Castroville, Texas – and around the country – who do not understand the Constitution or the implications of school-sponsored religious activities.

Fox News Channel is among those stirring the debate over the judge’s decision and, not surprisingly, is failing to educate viewers about the facts and what the law actually says.

Media Matters pointed this out on its blog today. The group shared a link to this morning’s episode of “Fox & Friends,” where host Gretchen Carlson interviewed a Medina Valley graduating senior and his parents.

After stating that the court decision has “infuriated parents and students,” the reporter asked the student and his parents how they felt about yesterday’s ruling.

“This is something you’ve been looking forward to…and now a court is saying you cannot have prayer because of one person,” she said, proceeding to ask the student for his reaction.

The entire interview was focused on how majority of the students wanted the prayer and that now one student has ruined it for all the rest.

The father of the student claimed many times that the prayer is “tradition” and that’s reason enough to include it.

“There is a big Catholic community there,” he said. “So I think it should be done.”

The student’s mother agreed, stating “the majority should be able to say their prayers at whatever function they are at.”

Of course, host Carlson conveniently failed to communicate that this decision only stops official school-sponsored prayer. She also failed to remind viewers that there is a reason why it’s not up to the students or people in the community to decide whether there is an official prayer. When it comes to the Constitution, the majority cannot take away the civil rights of the minority.

Some parents and students may not realize this, and that is unfortunate. But Fox News shouldn’t continue to perpetuate misunderstanding and misinformation about the Constitution.

Sadly, it seems those running Fox News Channel just can’t help themselves. Any time there is a church-state controversy in the news, they like to frame it as a war on Christians in America and reiterate that the majority should rule.

That’s simply not what this is about. It’s about making sure that every student feels welcomed and accepted by his or her school. In order to achieve that, the courts, including the Supreme Court, have declared that public schools can’t choose religion over non-religion or favor any particular faith.

It’s pretty simple, and it’s the only fair and constitutional way for school officials to behave.

8 Responses to Unfair And Unbalanced: Fox News offers one side of grad prayer story

E. Cortez June 2, 2011 - 8:06 am

We live in a free country and I PRAY that it will remain that way. You are speaking about the right of one student not to participate in prayer at a high school event. What about the rights of the other students. It would be very easy for that one student to simply ignore the prayer (after all this is a free country) but to infringe on the right of the others is selfish. You don't have to believe in a God but you do need to allow others to do so. Many Christians around the world have lost that right and are even being killed for their beliefs. I PRAY that this does not happen in the United State of America which was founded on those rights or we too will begin to loose the freedom we so love and enjoy.

- Rids June 2, 2011 - 8:31 am
  
  You're wrong.
  
- Mike Daniels June 2, 2011 - 9:04 am
  
  The founders of the United States of America wanted ALL people to have freedom of religion. That includes freedom from being forced to participate in the rituals of other religions. Nobody is saying that Muslims can't believe whatever they like. However, their being the majority in a particular community does not give them the right to force, through government sanction, Islamic prayers and rituals upon Christians, Jews, Hindus, and others who are attending a government-funded public ceremony. This is what you are promoting, the ability of one religious group who happens to have the majority in a community to force others to participate in their religious rituals. Muslims can pray as much as they like, to whomever they like, in their own homes and their mosques, and even in the streets. At taxpayer-funded events, they do not have the right under the US Constitution to lead government-sanctioned prayer to Allah or any other god.
  
- SJ June 2, 2011 - 5:00 pm
  
  You can't have it both ways- should Christians in other countries be persecuted because they're in the minority, or should minority groups in the U.S. be spared persecution by Christians? If the school wanted to say a Muslim prayer or a Scientology… thing… would you still be standing up for the right of THAT majority to force CHRISTIANS to sit through it (after all this is a free country)?
  
Lambert June 2, 2011 - 9:41 am

"You don't have to believe in a God but you do need to allow others to do so." Wake up irreligious bigot. Nobody is saying you cannot waste your time praying. As Mike explains very clearly above, it's about not forcing *your* religious rites on other people who do not happen to go for you brand of fairy story.

Nancy June 3, 2011 - 5:38 am

"Sometimes the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many"(from Star Trek). On another note if you want to pray during a service they have places for that called churches. Do not pray in a public building where you are forcing others to spend their time listening to you and your fantasies.

exbrit69 June 5, 2011 - 5:55 pm

Fox so-called news is for right wing morons only. It is not news but rather propaganda.

Ed September 9, 2011 - 11:18 pm

Remember: "It's not news, it's Fox!"