{"id":13159,"date":"2017-07-15T15:39:31","date_gmt":"2017-07-15T22:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/?p=13159"},"modified":"2019-02-18T20:59:56","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T04:59:56","slug":"indiana-school-district-to-end-graduation-prayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/community\/christians\/christian-co-lab-mission\/pwi-co-lab-staff\/indiana-school-district-to-end-graduation-prayers\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana School District Kowtows to Atheist Group, Promises to End Graduation Prayers"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Opening Insights<\/h2>\n<p>One Indiana school district has kowtowed to a prominent atheist group\u2019s complaint about incorporating prayer into its graduation ceremonies.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Pocket Wisdom Insights (PWI) invites you to explore the following\u00a0<strong>Co-Lab Blog<\/strong>.<\/em><br \/>\n<em> This blog features parts of an influential and insightful article featured outside of the\u00a0<strong>PWI\u00a0Co-Lab<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em> by <strong>Tr\u00e9 Goins-Phillips<\/strong> on July 14, 2017, published by\u00a0<a href=\"\/\/www.theblaze.com\/news\/2017\/07\/14\/indiana-school-district-kowtows-to-atheist-group-promises-to-end-graduation-prayers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Blaze<\/a>.<br \/>\n<\/em><em>We have republished this content in respect of the author\u2019s vision, message and research.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Informational Insights<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"font-size: 14px;\">Elkhart Community Schools received a letter of complaint last month from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation regarding the fact that prayers were featured in a graduation\u00a0ceremony at the Roosevelt STEAM Academy, an elementary school with a hands-on approach to science, technology, engineering, arts, and math.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 14px;\">In\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ffrf.org\/images\/ElkhartCommunitySchoolsINRESPONSE.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a response<\/a>\u00a0sent to the FFRF late last month,\u00a0Elkhart Schools District Counsel Chief of Staff and General Counsel W. Douglas Thorne confirmed to the atheist organization that the schools would stop including prayer in their\u00a0ceremonies.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\u201cThe Elkhart Community Schools understand our obligation to maintain a status of neutrality on matters related to religious belief, and to avoid actions which might be construed as endorsement of any particular religious beliefs,\u201d Thorne wrote. \u201cOur obligation to maintain a status of religious neutrality is communicated to our staff at all levels on a regular basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Source:\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"font-size: 16px;\" href=\"\/\/www.theblaze.com\/news\/2017\/07\/14\/indiana-school-district-kowtows-to-atheist-group-promises-to-end-graduation-prayers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Blaze<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2>Possibilities for Consideration<\/h2>\n<h3>Take a moment and examine\u2026<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>As you reviewed the material above, what stood out to you?<\/li>\n<li>What is the potential impact, economically and\/or socially?<\/li>\n<li>What action is needed to stop or support this idea?<\/li>\n<li>You may want to consider whether you:\n<ul>\n<li>want to be <em>aware<\/em> of,<\/li>\n<li>should become <em>supportive<\/em> of,<\/li>\n<li>would want to be <em>active<\/em> in this topic?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Add Your Insight<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply.<br \/>\nBeing willing is not enough; we must do.<br \/>\n<\/em>LEONARDO DA VINCI<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Opening Insights One Indiana school district has kowtowed to a prominent atheist group\u2019s complaint about incorporating prayer into its graduation ceremonies. Pocket Wisdom Insights (PWI) invites you to explore the following\u00a0Co-Lab Blog. This blog features <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/community\/christians\/christian-co-lab-mission\/pwi-co-lab-staff\/indiana-school-district-to-end-graduation-prayers\/\" title=\"Indiana School District Kowtows to Atheist Group, Promises to End Graduation Prayers\">[...]<\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":13164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[201,64,74,118,93],"tags":[268],"class_list":["post-13159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-emod-blog","category-christian-co-lab-mission","category-education-co-lab-blogs","category-jewish-values-co-lab-blogs","category-spirituality-co-lab-blogs","tag-schools"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-506350-womanpraying.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13159"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23697,"href":"https:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13159\/revisions\/23697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pocketwisdominsights.com\/pwicolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}