Graduation prayer now a thing of the past at LSU (August 7, 2013)

The Freedom From Religion Foundation ended the prayers that were formerly a part of Louisiana State University A & M's graduation ceremony.

Concerned students contacted FFRF about the university's graduation prayers, which have been going on for years. The 2013 graduation included a Catholic priest leading opening and closing prayers.

FFRF Staff Attorney Liz Cavell contacted the President and Chancellor of LSU in a June 21 letter. She asked that the practice of scheduling prayers or invocations as part of graduations be discontinued.

She wrote that the graduation's collective prayers are coercive and that a publicly funded university should not support, promote or endorse religion over nonreligion or any specific religion.

"Thank you in advance for considering the point of view of this country's increasingly large segment of nonreligious Americans, and honoring America's foundational principle of separation between religion and government," she wrote.

Louisiana State University's legal counsel responded on August 7 that LSU "has discontinued prayer during its graduation ceremonies."