Cranston should use the “school prayer” controversy as a chance to teach students about religious tolerance, civil liberties and the history of our state.

When I was a student at Cranston High School West, I hardly noticed the “School Prayer” banner on the wall of the auditorium. On the rare occasions it caught my eye, its presence struck me as merely unusual, a harmless relic of a bygone era. But now this banner has sowed seeds of division within the Cranston community, with the controversy coming to a head last week following U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux’s decision to order the banner’s removal on First Amendment grounds.

This decision sparked outrage from the prayer’s supporters, and a disturbing barrage of anger directed at the young plaintiff, 16-year-old Cranston West student and atheist activist Jessica Ahlquist. While the initial decision to pursue the prayer’s removal via the threat of ACLU-backed litigation rather than through dialogue with school and community leaders was confrontational and unnecessarily divisive in its own way, the fact remains that the banner is quite clearly unconstitutional. As Judge Lagueux wrote in his decision, “no amount of history and tradition can cure a constitutional infraction.” The hateful reaction by Jessica’s fellow students and other members of the community is unwarranted and deplorable. Jessica should be applauded for courageously standing up for her beliefs in a hostile public environment.

Cranston now has the unique opportunity and responsibility to use this moment to educate its students about tolerance, religious diversity and the civil liberties that are the bedrock of our country and our state. This is also the time for Cranston West to begin a conversation about how best to instill in students the values it claims to espouse in the text of the prayer and school creed.

Several prominent religious leaders in Rhode Island have spoken up in favor of removing the prayer in order to support separation of church and state and to encourage religious tolerance. The Reverend Donald Anderson, executive minister of Rhode Island State Council of Churches and a Cranston West alumnus, said when the lawsuit was filed, “This is the time to work together to enhance Rhode Island’s rich tradition of religious diversity and a climate where all religious traditions are welcome.” Rabbi Peter Stein also argued for the prayer’s removal, stating, “I hope that the prayer will be taken down and the students and families will all feel welcome and included in the life of the school.”

My own experience as a member of Immaculate Conception Parish is one of a religious community defined by Jesus Christ’s message of unconditional love rather than by the rhetoric of zealots who dominate the public discourse. Bishop Thomas Tobin, although advocating for the prayer to stay, questioned the motivations of some in the debate, asking if “the need to win the battle of the banner has become more important than the actual desire to pray,” and noting, “the rise and fall of religious faith, Christian or otherwise, in our nation or even in Cranston, doesn’t depend on the fate of the banner.”

Roger Williams, the Protestant theologian who founded the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations after disagreements with government and religious leaders led to his banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was among the first to write about the idea of a “wall of separation” between church and state. Williams saw civil government as a threat to the free practice of religion, believing coercion of conscience to be contrary to the lessons of scripture.

Superintendent Peter Nero and Cranston West principal Steven Knowlton would do well to organize assemblies or panel discussions for students to explore the precepts of religious freedom and tolerance and their importance in our nation and our state today. Teachers can use this experience as a real-life example of the legacy of Roger Williams and how our justice system works to protect the civil rights and liberties of minorities. Finally, school leaders must clearly articulate a zero-tolerance policy on cyber and traditional bullying, calling on students to act according to the ideals listed in the prayer and in the school’s motto: “A place where we treat people as we would like people to treat us.”

By taking these steps, Cranston’s education leaders will set an example for students – one that appears to be sorely lacking among community leaders in the initially antagonistic and inappropriate public response to the court decision thus far. Only then will our city truly be acting in a way that lives up to the positive values outlined in the School Prayer, conducting ourselves in a manner “so as to bring credit to Cranston High School West.”

Matthew Cournoyer is a 2007 graduate of Cranston High School West.