Americans United and the ACLU have filed a lawsuit over a Connecticut school district's use of a church for graduation ceremonies. One of their primary arguments is that there are other capable non-religious sites that could be used instead. As if on cue, the Baptist Joint Committee's James Gibson offers advice to churches that may need to host a commencement.
…[A]lthough most graduations scheduled for religious venues are not veiled attempts to proselytize, graduation ceremonies should be held in a non-religious venue whenever possible. When a religious venue is the most suitable option, measures should be taken to ensure that there is no implicit or explicit linkage between the civic event and the host religious venue.
For example, a church should not have to…remove a mounted cross or other religious imagery from the walls of the room being used. But easily achieved and painlessly reversed accommodations, such as covering up items or temporarily removing portable religious objects or texts and storing them elsewhere, should be made.
