Winchester Community High School in Indiana will no longer perform religious routines after getting an FFRF complaint lodged with the Randolph Central School Corp.
The band’s 2015 performance of “With Trumpets and Cymbals” was based on Psalm 150 and included a narrator reciting “Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary!” Stained glass props served as a backdrop.
“WCHS has a responsibility to ensure that performances by school-sponsored groups do not impermissibly promote religion over nonreligion or Judeo-Christianity over all minority faiths,” wrote Staff Attorney Sam Grover.
Steven Murphy, attorney for the school district, “acknowledge[d] the concerns expressed in [FFRF’s] letter” and said that separation of church and state would be “considered and addressed on all future performances.”
