Court Bans Ave Maria

 

A federal appeals court today banned the Jackson High School woodwind ensemble from playing Ave Maria, a religious piece of music by Schubert based on a traditional Catholic prayer.  The court ruled that the district superintendent did not violate students’ first amendment rights by restricting graduation music to secular works.

While it is unclear whether the superintendent made the right decision (there certainly is a place in our school system for religiously derived music so long as the intent of the selection of the music is not to promote religion, and a piece of classical music devoid of English lyrics in this case was probably not violating the establishment clause), it is clear that the court ruled correctly.  School administrators must deal with the often-ambiguous border separating the protection of students’ right to free expression and their right to not be indoctrinated by government promotion of religion.  In a graduation ceremony where a very small number of musical pieces may be played, there is nothing wrong with ensuring that the repertoire remain secular.  The only potential worry is that administrators may take this too far and try to ban high school bands from playing selections with religious antecedents altogether.

Sources:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/08/BAVK19K5EK.DTL&tsp=1