Yesterday, we brought you Damon Fowler’s struggle to stop the school’s prayer at his graduation. He threatened to go to the ACLU, so they actually backed down. Then staff members at this school started saying extremely upsetting things about him in the town’s newspapers. They were mad that a person dared to call them out on decades old constitutionally settled law.

Several of us passed along his request for people to write to the school, and I added a link to the newspaper in Bastrop. You guys did an outstanding job, and it looked like the story was turning around.

They promised not to have the prayer, and positive stories rolled out in the news. All good, right?

Unbelievably, they went ahead with the prayer anyway.

The woman giving the invocation starts off claiming that there would be no prayer, and a moment of silence would be conducted instead. It was a pretty loud moment of silence, and she kept blathering about her Christianity. Then, she started straight up praying. Clearly she was both aware of and defiant towards existing laws and policies put in place to stop government entanglement with religion.

If you hate the Constitution and you know it clap your hands.

Perhaps not so surprisingly, they erupted into rapturous praise. The town had been worked up into a frenzy, in no small part due to this Bastrop school official hurling insults at Damon Fowler in the newspapers:

Mitzi Quinn has been on the staff at BHS for almost 25 years, much of that time as a senior advisor. In the past, Quinn said there have been students who were atheist, agnostic and other non-Christian religions who “had no problems” with the prayer.

“And what’s even more sad is this is a student who really hasn’t contributed anything to graduation or to their classmates,” Quinn said.

Damon – thank you for being brave enough to try to stop it. You did an amazing job of getting the word out. Get a lawyer, get in college, and get the hell out of Bastrop for a while. Just know that you had an avalanche of support pouring in.

Readers, if you can spare 5 more minutes for this brave young atheist, please do. Here is the contact information again. - This time I’d call for the firing of all involved in perpetrating this. Does anybody know the name of the person giving the invocation? Please tell me it’s not the same school staffer who was talking shit about Damon in the newspapers – Mitzi Quinn.

Send an Email to the superintendent of his school.

Write a letter to the editor at Bastrop, LA’s local newspaper.
Contact: Mark Rainwater (318) 281 2691

Call the Louisiana ACLU
(504) 522-0617 – [Couldn't find an email address]

**Update**
This appears to be footage from the rehearsal on Thursday May 19, and the speaker may have been a student. Whoever this is, they were clearly told NOT to do this, and only invited to give a (still unnecessary) moment of silence. Let’s hope the school does the right thing. She’s already shown her hand, and is not following the guidance given to her. If this is repeated at the live event, the school is a willing participant (assuming this was the student).