Graduation was last week at my (high school) alma mater. It apparently used to be a tradition for the A Capella choir to sing "Beautiful Savior" as part of the commencement ceremony; that stopped in 2002 (the year before I graduated).
This pro-Christian tradition ended because Kate, a Jewish student who was both a choir member and a graduating senior that year, objected to having to sing it at her graduation and fought to have it removed from the ceremony.
This pro-Christian tradition ended because Kate, a Jewish student who was both a choir member and a graduating senior that year, objected to having to sing it at her graduation and fought to have it removed from the ceremony.
I don't recall it being sung at my commencement, but back then I was an apathetic agnostic. I tended to shrug off the school's occasional sanctimonious pandering to the Christian majority.
Nine years later now, Kate left a comment on our hometown's Patch blog asking if that change had stuck. I noticed the comment last Wednesday and wondered if it was going to spark controversy. Remember all the venom being spewed at Damon Fowler and Jessica Ahlquist for standing up against school-mandated prayer?
Then again, surely no one in my hometown would stoop to such spiteful ad-hominem over something so minor, especially nine years after the fact; I was sure that her question would probably be answered by someone in the know and otherwise ignored.
Then again, surely no one in my hometown would stoop to such spiteful ad-hominem over something so minor, especially nine years after the fact; I was sure that her question would probably be answered by someone in the know and otherwise ignored.
Well, I was proven wrong. Watch the drama unfold in response to Kate's comment.
