ACLU Threatens High School With Lawsuit Over Location of Graduation Ceremony

Civil liberties watchdog group claims hosting ceremonies in a church-owned property crosses the line dividing church and state

Neptune High School of Ocean Grove, NJ has hosted their graduation ceremony in the 6500-seat Great Auditorium for over seven decades. The Great Auditorium, which was built in 1894, is Ocean Grove’s largest venue and can fit the entire population of the town within it one and half times over. In addition to graduation ceremonies, the Great Auditorium has also hosted US presidents, NJ governors and musical groups like the Beach Boys.

This seemingly innocuous tradition is currently being challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union because the Great Auditorium is both owned by a church and is littered with Christian images. The ACLU believes that holding a school-related function in a venue with self-evident religious ties is a violation of the separation of church and state and a First Amendment violation. A complaint lodged after last year’s ceremony by a family offended by the Christian images in the Great Auditorium has spurred the civil liberties watchdog into considering filing litigation.

The ACLU requested that the Neptune School District remove or cover a large cross displayed on the exterior of the Great Auditorium and remove several smaller religious signs from the interior of the building and omit hymns from the ceremony. Neptune Public School District Superintendent David Mooij agreed to rid the ceremony of religious references but refused to cover or remove the religious symbols found on the building.

“[We are] a Christian ministry, and we can’t change who we are,” said an official from the group that owns the Great Auditorium in support of maintaining thee Christian symbols and signs there. “We want this tradition to keep going as badly as anyone, but not at the expense of who we are.”

The ACLU then requested the school district change the location of the graduation ceremony, which Mooij also refused to do on the basis of a paucity of suitable replacement venues.

ACLU spokespeople have not confirmed whether or not the civil liberties organization will take action against the Neptune School District, though they emphasize that negotiations with the school district are currently underway.

The organization that owns the Great Auditorium, a Methodist group called the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, also owns all of the land in that town. How this will factor into a lawsuit, in the event one is filed, remains to be seen.

 PLEASE SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

Is the ACLU overstepping its bounds and being overly sensitive about an innocent long-standing school tradition? Is it unreasonable for non-Christians to be offended by Christian imagery in a predominantly Christian society? Or should all school districts be completely secular and devoid of anything remotely concerned with religion? Please let us know what you think.