Appeals Court Upholds Grace Ban

Appeals Court
Upholds Grace Ban

( CHARISMA) -- Rejecting arguments that the prayer is voluntary because cadets are adults, a federal appeals court panel this week ruled that saying grace before evening meals at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is unconstitutional.

The three-judge panel's unanimous decision Monday upholds a lower court ruling and emphasizes that the extraordinary obedience demanded of VMI cadets doesn't give them the freedom to choose not to participate in what's been called a non-denominational, voluntary dinner prayer, the Associated Press reported.

Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, who plans to ask for a new hearing by the full court of appeals, noted that similar prayers are said in the military, including the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md.

"I continue to believe that the non-denominational, non-sectarian grace before supper is of the sort that is appropriate in a military setting," Kilgore said, "The Richmond Times-Dispatch" reported. "No one was required to recite the prayer, bow his or her head, or even participate in its recitation."

Meanwhile also on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal of a ruling that barred the display of a large granite monument with the Ten Commandments on the state Capitol grounds in Kentucky.

Without issuing comment, the justices let stand a federal appeals court ruling that the Frankfort display - which also featured Jewish and Christian texts and symbols -- violates church-state separation under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment, "The Louisville Courier-Journal" reported.