Well, Jay, we didn't agree about holding graduations in churches. It looks like we won't agree on what students can say or do at graduation, either.
Songs which mention God are usually called "hymns." Hymns are prayers set to music. Prayers should not be a part of a public junior high graduation ceremony. Although the facts you relate in your post about the California case are pretty sparse, it seems completely appropriate for the school to veto inclusion of a "song [that] mentions God" at the event. (Frankly, I'd prefer never to see tap dancing on general principle, but the First Amendment wouldn't allow a government body to bar such performances all together.)
Now, let's look at a few other possibilities. Should a toe-tapper be allowed to perfom a song by my pal Roy Zimmerman, which pokes fun at religion? No, because schools are supposed to be strictly neutral on this topic. Should a student speaker be able to turn his or her graduation address into a sermon warning that any audience members who don't convert to Christianity that night will burn in hell for eternity? No, if such a speech is known to be coming, school officials have every right and responsibility to instruct the student that this is inappropriate. Now, should that student be able to thank Uncle Ralph, his mother, and Jesus for helping him through high school? There, I'd say "no big deal." That really is a personal observation only.
So, let's see the lyrics of your California tap dancer's tune. If it is the modern hymn it sounds like, it has to go. If "God" is some fleeting reference (a spiritiual equivalent to John Lennon's line in "Imagine" that notes "imagine no religion") maybe the student should be cut some slack. Only upon seeing all the facts will we know if this is censorship or a commonsense action by a school that understands the First Amendment.
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What planet do you live on? Here on earth in the U.S. parents CAN send their children to the school of their choice if that school is accredited for the basic curriculum established by the State the school is in. No one has to send their kids to a public school if they don't want to. But we all reap the benefits of public education whether we actually have children in the system or not. So we all need to pay taxes to support the public schools regardless if we have children in them. The majority of self-made millionaires in the U.S. are public school graduates and a surprising number of them went no further than that.
It’s quite revealing that you think the facts children learn in school will keep their parents from being able to pass their religion on to them. “If religion were true, its followers would not try to bludgeon their young into artificial conformity; but would merely insist on their unbending quest for truth” – H.P. Lovecraft. Facts have no pace in religion do they?
Jimbino: "The sad fact is that all this strife over graduation speeches is directly attributable to the fact that we maintain socialist public schools that not only manage to offend everybody, but that also can't teach the kids, and that at great expense. Time to privatize all schools, so parents can vote with their feet if they don't like religious ceremonies in schools. Statism ruins everything."
The only thing wrong with that statement is that it is completely false. We maintain public schools (like we maintain public police and fire departments, utilties, libraries, courts, and armed forces) because they are part of the public square and are best managed for our common interest rather than some stockholders' net profit. There is no evidence anywhere that students receive any better education in private religious schools (especially charter schools) than public schools. The only thing statism ruins is false religious claims and the religious wars against science, education, and diversity.
We have just become so insane in this country. There is nothing wrong with a couple of hymnal type songs in a public schools performance. It doesn't hurt anyone they are songs! How are we ever going to become a strong nation again if we continue to turn everyting into a conflict? We are doomed if we continue on this path! We are a nation founded under God and I believe that is why this country has been so blessed. We need something greater then ourselves. As we can see the more secular we have become, the greater the corruption and degradation of this society.
The truth: As we can see the more secular we have become, the LESS the religious corruption and degradation of this society. Things are getting better not worse.
Lenny, hymns are usually very bad songs. I've yet to hear one that doesn't sound like a march or a lullaby. Let's have a little quality in the music schools teach, can we?
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