High School Valedictorian, Roy Costner IV, Recites Prayer After Ripping Pre-Approved Speech

It’s not every day a high school valedictorian speech becomes national news.  That’s the case for the valedictorian of Liberty High School in South Carolina.  Roy Costner IV created controversy after he ripped his pre-approved speech only to then recite the Lord’s Prayer, word for word.  Costner did so in protest because the school district removed prayer at graduation ceremonies.

Here’s a clip of his speech:

You might be surprised to read, but I don’t think it was appropriate of him to recite the prayer.  Liberty High School is a public school.  Therefore, you have to be respectful of other students with differing religions or those who are atheists.  This would have been perfectly appropriate at a religious institution.

There are many supporters of his actions.  They applaud him for expressing his 1^st Amendment Rights.  However, I wonder if any of those same people would have a problem if say he was Muslim and he began his speech with a prayer from the Qur’an.  I think there would be even more controversy over this had he been.

I don’t like to always be politically correct, but in this case I don’t think he should have recited the prayer.

What do you think?

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