Supreme Court Maintains Ban on Megachurch Graduations

Seventh Circuit previously decided that large cross in Wisconsin sanctuary created an unconstitutional environment.

The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed a court ban on churches renting their facilities for public school graduations to remain standing, despite the implications of the high court’s recent unanimous ruling in favor of Jesus prayers at government meetings.

The case dates back to 2000, when some Wisconsin students and parents protested Elmbrook School District’s decision to hold graduation ceremonies in a local megachurch’s auditorium because of the high schools’ poor facilities (such as lack of air conditioning). A federal district court banned the practice as unconstitutional, and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals agreed.

Even though the nation’s highest court declined to hear the case Monday, the refusal “effectively ruled that schools cannot use church facilities for graduation ceremonies,” argues Daniel Bennett for Religion News Service.

In its previous ruling, the Seventh Circuit wrote that “the sheer religiosity of the space created a likelihood that high school students and their younger siblings would perceive … a message of endorsement.”

However, the appeals court’s decision was limited to the particular church and situation in question, not a broad ban on all public school use of church spaces:

We do not speculate whether and when the sanctuary of a church, or a synagogue, or mosque could hold public school ceremonies in a constitutionally appropriate manner. Nor do we seek to determine whether and when this sanctuary, or one akin to it, could be properly used as the setting for a graduation under other circumstances. … Rather, our duty is to consider the set of facts before us, and on those facts, we conclude that an unacceptable amount of …