Court Opinion

ID: 9558750
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:16:21.571336+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:09:34.437642
License: Public Domain

BAXTER, J.,
Dissenting.—I dissent. The majority hold that any religious invocation or benediction in a public high school graduation ceremony is constitutionally impermissible, and direct the Court of Appeal to affirm the judgment of the superior court. While some past practices in high schools of the Morongo Unified School District are constitutionally suspect, I do not agree that either the First Amendment or the California Constitution precludes the inclusion of religious prayer in graduation ceremonies in all circumstances. Absent more explicit guidance from the United States Supreme Court, I would not conclude, as does the majority, that religious content alone mandates the exclusion of a ceremonial prayer whose purpose is to add solemnity to a public school ceremony. I would, therefore, modify and affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal, and direct the Court of Appeal to require the superior court to issue a more limited injunction.
*940The majority correctly reason that the “Lemon test” (Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) 403 U.S! 602, 612-613 [29 L.Ed.2d 745, 755-756, 91 S.Ct. 2105]), governs our consideration of plaintiffs’ establishment clause claims. The issue in Lemon v. Kurtzman, supra, 403 U.S. 602, was whether statutes which authorized limited state financial aid to church-related elementary and secondary schools were constitutional. The question addressed in this case, whether inclusion of a “religious” invocation or benediction in a public high school graduation ceremony violates the establishment clause, was not directly presented, and the high court has not yet addressed the question.
The Supreme Court has, however, “regularly” applied the Lemon test to other governmental practices which touch upon religion. (County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties U. (1989) 492 U.S. 573, 592 [106 L.Ed.2d 472, 493-494, 109 S.Ct. 3086].) As Justice Blackmun observed: “Since Lynch, the court has made clear that when evaluating the effect of government conduct under the Establishment Clause [a court] must ascertain whether ‘the challenged governmental action is sufficiently likely to be perceived by adherents of the controlling denominations as an endorsement, and by the nonadherents as a disapproval, of their individual religious choices.’ ” (Id., at p. 597 [106 L.Ed.2d at p. 497].) Since the “endorsement” question reflects the second prong of the Lemon test, I am satisfied that under presently controlling precedent we must assess plaintiffs’ First Amendment establishment clause challenge under the Lemon v. Kurtzman criteria.
In the interest of avoiding possible “entanglement” or “prior restraint” problems, however, the majority ignore the import of the tests they purport to apply. The existence of a test by which to determine the constitutional propriety of governmental action which may have an incidental relation to religious activity itself confirms that not all governmental interface with religion is prohibited. Had the high court concluded that any incidental benefit to religion or accommodation of religion in a public school activity is impermissible, there would have been no need to formulate a test by which to determine whether a particular practice offends the First Amendment. The court, however, did not hold that the First Amendment precludes any and all practices which might be viewed by some observers as “religious.”
Instead, the court directed courts that are called upon to assess the constitutional propriety of a practice challenged as violative of the establishment clause to examine the practice to determine: (1) whether the practice has a secular purpose; (2) whether its principal or primary effect advances or inhibits religion; and (3) whether it fosters excessive governmental entanglement with religion. (Lemon v. Kurtzman, supra, 403 U.S. 602, 612-613 *941[29 L.Ed.2d at pp. 755-756].) Justice Blackmun suggests that in carrying out that mandate, the court must consider the context in which the conduct occurs to determine whether the practice sends a message to nonadherents that they are not full members of the political community, and the court must ask what the listeners might fairly understand to be the purpose of the conduct. (County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties U, supra, 492 U.S. 573, 594-596 [106 L.Ed.2d 472, 495-496].)
The high court has provided the means by which to assess the propriety of its graduation ceremonies, and the district has asked this court for guidance in applying the test to its practice of including religious invocations in the ceremonies. The majority decline the opportunity to give the requested guidance. The majority apparently deem the Lemon test too cumbersome or inconvenient to utilize in this context. Rather than providing guidance as to the proper application of the Lemon test in the school graduation context, the majority convert the high court’s holding into an absolute bar to inclusion of prayers in graduation ceremonies. In so doing they usurp the authority of the district to govern its affairs, within constitutional limits, in the manner the district determines is best suited to the needs and desires of its community.
I

First Amendment Considerations

Based on some past practices of the district, and without considering alternatives, the majority hold that religious invocations and benedictions must necessarily fail both the “effect” and “entanglement” prongs of the Lemon test. The past practices of high schools within the Morongo Unified School District may have done so. During the benediction at the 1986 Yucca Valley High School graduation ceremony, for example, the speaker asked the audience to stand and join him in a prayer entreating a “Father” to bestow guidance, strength, and other blessings on the graduates. Inviting the audience at a ceremony sponsored by, and held at, a public school to join in a prayer to a deity may fairly be understood as inviting participation in a school-sponsored religious activity. Prayer invoking God’s blessing is a religious activity. (Engel v. Vitale (1962) 370 U.S. 421, 424 [8 L.Ed.2d 601, 604-605, 82 S.Ct. 1261, 86 A.L.R.2d 1285].) Such a practice constitutes an endorsement of religion. The practice conveys the impression that the school both approves of and sponsors religion. Calling on the audience to participate removes the governmental neutrality mandated by the Constitution.
By contrast, the invocation delivered at the same ceremony did not involve the audience. Instead the speaker expressed his personal thanks to the *942deity he recognized for the privilege of participating in the ceremony at which the former students received their diplomas, and asked that they be given virtues needed for success in the future. He introduced this prayer with an explanation that he found it personally helpful to rely on someone “greater than yourself,” but made it clear that as an aspect of the freedom of religion we all enjoy, members of the audience should feel free not even to bow their heads.1
This invocation did not convey the impression that the district approved of its religious content or sponsored the speaker’s message. It did not serve to advance religion in any measurable way, and certainly did not entangle the school or the district in religious activity. Nor, although the majority find it unnecessary to address the first prong of the Lemon test, could the religious aspect of this prayer be deemed as a matter of law to negate the secular purpose of the district for including a religious prayer in the ceremony—that of adding solemnity appropriate to the nature of the graduation ceremony.2
The speaker’s explanation and disclaimer were adequate to disassociate the school from the activity and to avoid any realistic possibility that *943members of the audience, graduates, parents, and other interested listeners, would infer that the school endorsed or disapproved any religious choice, or religion itself, (County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties U, supra, 492 U.S. 573, 591-593 [106 L.Ed.2d 472, 493-494].)
However, that invocation and the invocations at Sky High School, where the same Protestant minister has delivered the invocation since the founding of the school in 1977, are constitutionally suspect for another reason. The record reflects that the Yucca Valley High School speaker, also a Protestant minister, was personally selected by the vice-principal of Yucca Valley High School. In the absence of guidelines adequate to ensure a diversity of views, vesting a school official with discretion to invite a religious speaker and the repetitive selection of a minister of the same religious faith could convey the impression that the school approved of and sponsored that faith and religion itself.
The high court has noted that even the “legislative prayer” which it held to be outside the scope of the establishment clause in Marsh v. Chambers (1983) 463 U.S. 783 [77 L.Ed.2d 1019, 103 S.Ct. 3330] would not be permissible if the government was perceived to prefer or be affiliated with that faith or belief (County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties U, supra, 492 U.S. 573, 602 [106 L.Ed.2d 472, 500]) as might occur if clergy of a single denomination deliver the prayer.
Some of the past practices of the district and its schools therefore constitute or threaten to constitute one of the evils against which the establishment clause was intended to afford protection—sponsorship of religion. (See Lemon v. Kurtzman, supra, 403 U.S. 602, 612 [29 L.Ed.2d 745, 755]; Walz v. Tax Commission (1970) 397 U.S. 664, 668 [25 L.Ed.2d 697, 701, 90 S.Ct. 1409].) They violate the second prong of the Lemon test by conveying a message of endorsement of religion and of a particular religious belief, and thereby offend the establishment clause. (Wallace v. Jaffree (1985) 472 U.S. 38, 56, fn. 42 [86 L.Ed.2d 29, 43, 105 S.Ct. 2479].) “Whether the key word is ‘endorsement,’ ‘favoritism,’ or ‘promotion,’ the essential principle remains the same. The Establishment Clause, at the very least, prohibits government from appearing to take a position on questions of religious belief or from ‘making adherence to a religion relevant in any way to a person’s standing in the political community.’ ” (County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties U, supra, 492 U.S. 573, 593-594 [106 L.Ed.2d 472, 494-495].)
I agree, therefore, that plaintiffs are entitled to injunctive relief against the continuation of these practices. I do not agree, however, that the injunction issued by the superior court which prohibits the school officials from *944permitting any religious invocations and benedictions in any public school ceremonies in the district should be upheld. Rather, as I have noted above, the message must be considered in the context in which it is delivered.
The question in County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties U., supra, was whether the inclusion of religious symbols, a creche and a menorah, in a governmental holiday display offended the establishment clause. Although the context differed from that in issue here, the holding of the high court is applicable. The government may not support or promote religious communication by religious organizations. (492 U.S. 573, 597-602 [106 L.Ed.2d 472, 497-500].)
It is clear from this, and from the high court’s admonishment to consider whether the audience may perceive the practice as reflecting government approval or disapproval of their religious choices, that the majority go too far in relying on Lemon v. Kurtzman to support a ban on the inclusion of any “religious prayer” in a high school graduation ceremony. It is equally clear to me that the particular prayer offered as part of the invocation at the 1986 Yucca Valley High School graduation ceremony, and condemned by the majority without analysis of its language in the context in which it was offered, does not offend the United States Constitution, however much it may have offended the plaintiffs.
The Constitution does not mandate that the state avoid any possible offense to any person in actions that touch upon religion. (Citizens for Parental Rights v. San Mateo County Bd. of Education (1975) 51 Cal.App.3d 1, 12 [124 Cal.Rptr. 68, 82 A.L.R.3d 544].) The test here should be whether the contemplated act, inclusion of a prayer in an invocation, is likely to be perceived as governmental endorsement of prayer as a favored practice, or as a departure from the principle that government is completely neutral toward religion. (See Wallace v. Jaffree, supra, 472 U.S. 38, 60 [86 L.Ed.2d 29, 45-46].) Since a brief prayer can be delivered during an invocation without being viewed in that light by the audience, and need not be perceived as placing the power, prestige or financial support of the government behind a particular religious belief, I would not hold that prayer is in all circumstances constitutionally impermissible in a public high school graduation ceremony.
Nor am I persuaded by plaintiffs’ argument that any approach short of a complete ban on any religious content in public high school invocations and benedictions will inevitably involve the school and the courts in censorship and prior restraint of speech, or impermissibly entangle government in religious activity. I am satisfied that the court can fashion guidelines which *945can be conveyed to both those responsible for selecting the speakers for the graduation ceremony and to the speaker.
Because no reason appears that either would intentionally violate those guidelines, there is no need to review the content of a proposed invocation in advance of its delivery. The United States Constitution does not demand that a governmental agency which sponsors a public ceremony screen its content in order to avoid any possible offense. It requires only that the governmental agency take reasonable steps to ensure that it is not knowingly conveying the impression that it sponsors or endorses a religious message, and to prevent the continuation of past practices which may have done so.3
II

California Constitution Considerations

Because I conclude that the First Amendment does not bar all religious content in public high school graduation ceremonies, the restrictions of the California Constitution must also be addressed.
Religion is dealt with in several provisions of the California Constitution. In the fundamental charter of individual liberties, the Declaration of Rights, guarantees which parallel those of the First Amendment are established: “Free exercise and enjoyment of religion without discrimination or preference are guaranteed. This liberty of conscience does not excuse acts that are licentious or inconsistent with the peace or safety of the State. The Legislature shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.
“A person is not incompetent to be a witness or juror because of his or her opinions on religious beliefs.” (Cal. Const., art. I, § 4.)
Article I, section 4 of the California Constitution affords essentially the same guaranty of religious freedom and state neutrality as does the First Amendment, adding an express guaranty against discrimination or preference. (Fox v. City of Los Angeles (1978) 22 Cal. 3d 792, 796 [150 Cal.Rptr. 867, 587 P.2d 663].) Except as noted above, where a preference may be implied by the delivery of invocations by members of the same sect over an extended period, and an endorsement may be implied if the speaker solicits audience participation in a religious prayer, the past practices of the Moron-go Unified School District in permitting religious invocations at high school *946graduation ceremonies are not shown by this record to have denied any rights guaranteed by article I, section 4.
More specific provisions deal with religion in the public schools and support of religion. Article IX, section 8 of the 1879 Constitution mandates complete separation of church and state in the instructional process: “No public money shall ever be appropriated for the support of any sectarian or denominational school, or any school not under the exclusive control of the officers of the public schools; nor shall any sectarian or denominational doctrine be taught, or instruction thereon be permitted, directly or indirectly, in any of the common schools of this State.”
Article XVI, section 5 of the California Constitution (former art. IV, § 30) also bans any aid to religion or religious schools:
“Neither the Legislature, nor any county, city and county, township, school district, or other municipal corporation, shall ever make an appropriation, or pay from any public fund whatever, or grant anything to or in aid of any religious sect, church, creed, or sectarian purpose, or help to support or sustain any school, college, university, ... or sectarian denomination whatever; nor shall any grant or donation of personal property or real estate ever be made by the state, or any city, city and county, town, or other municipal corporation for any religious creed, church, or sectarian purpose whatever; . . .”
The delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1879 drafted provisions to ensure state neutrality in religious matters, and to ban governmental support for religion in any public school. The constitutional history noted by Justice Mosk in his concurring opinion in this case, and earlier in California Educational Facilities Authority v. Priest (1974) 12 Cal.3d 593, 603-607 [116 Cal.Rptr. 361, 526 P.2d 513], confirms the importance the delegates attached to these principles which had their origin in the Constitution of 1849. As the court held there, however, none of these provisions prohibits governmental conduct which results in an indirect, remote, or incidental benefit to religion.
The question in California Educational Facilities Authority v. Priest, supra, was whether making low-interest government bonds available to private, and in some cases sectarian, schools violated the Constitution. Notwithstanding the clear benefit such financing provided, the court held that the dispositive question was “not whether the Act provides such a benefit, but whether that benefit is incidental to a primary public purpose.” (12 Cal.3d at p. 605.) Because the act did not “have a substantial effect of supporting religious activities” it was upheld. (Id., at p. 606.)
*947This court revisited the question of aid to sectarian schools, and the proper construction and application of California Constitution article IX, section 8, and article XVI, section 5, in California Teachers Assn. v. Riles (1981) 29 Cal.3d 794 [176 Cal.Rptr. 300, 632 P.2d 953]. There the question was whether the Superintendent of Public Instruction could lend textbooks to nonprofit private schools. The court held the act authorizing the loans violated both provisions because such loans constituted an appropriation of public money and directly benefitted private and sectarian schools.
Although the result in California Teachers Assn. v. Riles, supra, differed, the analysis and construction of the state constitutional provisions did not. The decisive question was whether the loan constituted an appropriation of funds for the support of sectarian schools. (29 Cal.3d at p. 813.) A loan of textbooks to sectarian schools is clearly distinguishable from permitting a speaker who delivers an invocation to make reference to, or offer a brief prayer on his own behalf to, a deity.
Because there is no expenditure of funds beyond the de minimis amount of overhead expense that may be attributable to the seconds during which the speaker may recite a prayer, and that recitation need not be viewed in all cases as reflecting state endorsement or support of the religious views of the speaker, I conclude that the California Constitution does not ban the inclusion in a graduation ceremony of all invocations in which the speaker may offer a prayer or statement of religious nature.
Like the free exercise and establishment clauses of the First Amendment, therefore, the California Constitution does not prohibit all reference to religion in academic events. Again, it is sponsorship or endorsement, express or implied, of religion or a particular religion that is the evil sought to be avoided. (See, e.g., Evans v. Selma Union High School Dist. (1924) 193 Cal. 54, 60 [222 P. 801, 31 A.L.R. 1121] [“The mere act of purchasing a book to be added to the school library does not carry with it any implication of the adoption of the theory or dogma contained therein, or any approval of the book itself except as a work of literature.”].)
I would affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal insofar as it reverses the order granting an injunction against any religious prayers in high school graduation ceremonies, but would direct the Court of Appeal to require the trial court to grant a more limited injunction consistent with the views expressed above.
Appellants’ petition for a rehearing was denied June 27, 1991. Panelli, J., and Baxter, J., were of the opinion that the petition should be granted.
*948Appendix
Invocation Delivered by Pastor Trip Kimball 6/12/86
Graduates, faculty, friends, family. I consider it a privilege to be here this evening to do the Invocation, particularly as I look back to 20 years ago today that I graduated from high school. It’s a real blessing to speak to you and encourage you to be confident in looking forward to the years ahead. That hope, that confidence, that indeed there are certain to be changes to come, will come. Yet each point of change is an opportunity for growth. And I want to encourage you to have confidence [in] looking forward to that. And so it is that I want to even extend that in a Prayer. That as you have the opportunity to grow and change, and to face things, and sometimes those things will cause you to be apprehensive, cause you to begin to doubt, I have found that for myself it’s good to have something, someone to trust in that is greater than yourself. So if you would like to you can bow your head, if not, feel free not to, that’s what freedom is all about. Heavenly father, I thank you for the privilege it is to see these graduates going forth receiving their diplomas this evening. To celebrate this time, I pray that you would give them that blessing, that confidence, courage, vision, hope, peace and gladness, and looking forward to the days to come, the years to come being confident of what they have already been able to do in receiving this diploma. Now I pray your blessing upon them, in the name of our Lord, amen.
Benediction Delivered by Mr. Bob Hocket 6/12/86
Will the audience please stand and join us in prayer. Dear Father, we thank You for these graduates who have meant so much to us. We thank You for their energy, their enthusiasm, their sense of humor and their sense for life. May the years never diminish these traits. We ask Your guidance as these graduates try to meet the many challenges of their future years. Grant them the strength to meet these challenges with courage, confidence and faith. We ask Your blessings so that their lives will brim with happiness and good health. And that each one experiences a life rich in friendship and rich in love. Finally, we ask that these young men and women, mature in years, may they forever remain young at heart and free in spirit. We ask for these in Your name, amen.

The full text of this invocation was:
“Graduates, faculty, friends, family. I consider it a privilege to be here this evening to do the Invocation, particularly as I look back to 20 years ago today that I graduated from high school.
“It’s a real blessing to speak to you and encourage you to be confident in looking forward to the years ahead. That hope, that confidence, that indeed there are certain to be changes to come, will come. Yet every point of change is an opportunity for growth. And I want to encourage you to have confidence [in] looking forward to that.
“And so it is that I want to even extend that in a Prayer. That as you have the opportunity to grow and change, and to face things, and sometimes those things will cause you to be apprehensive, cause you to begin to doubt, I have found that for myself it’s good to have something, someone to trust in that is greater than yourself.
“So if you would like to you can bow your head, if not, feel free not to, that’s what freedom is all about.
“Heavenly father, I thank you for the privilege it is to see these graduates going forth receiving their diplomas this evening. To celebrate this time, I pray that you would give them that blessing, that confidence, courage, vision, hope, peace and gladness, and looking forward to the days to come, the years to come being confident of what they have already been able to do in receiving this diploma.
“Now I pray your blessing upon them, in the name of our Lord, amen.”

Bennett v. Livermore Unified School Dist. (1987) 193 Cal.App.3d 1012 [238 Cal.Rptr. 819] is distinguishable in this regard. The opinion in Bennett does not indicate that the court had either the text of any contemplated invocation or that of past invocations before it. The court observed that an invocation by definition was a form of prayer, and found no secular purpose for its inclusion in the ceremony. Therefore, while acknowledging that the practice was not an egregious intrusion by the state into religious activity, the court affirmed an injunction barring it. (Id., at pp. 1015-1016.)
By contrast in the instant case the record reflects both a secular purpose and that the content and manner of the delivery of an invocation need not involve either the state or the audience in “invoking God’s presence.”

 No one has suggested that other speakers at such graduation ceremonies, such as a class valedictorian or other graduates honored for academic or athletic achievement, should have their remarks censored to ensure that they do not credit a deity with their success or seek favor from a deity in their own and their classmates’ careers. Remarks of this nature are not perceived as state sponsored or approved religious expression. I see no constitutional compulsion to distinguish an invocation in this regard.