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Marian Ward Transcript

MARIAN WARD: I loved high school and I was super involved.

MW: I was in band, student council for a while, Junior Statesman…

MW: Very sociable…

MW: School prayer issue, that’s what put Santa Fe on the map, put me on the map…

MW: I certainly won’t be remembered for my skills on the trumpet.

VOICEOVER: This is a story about Marian Ward, a young woman who found herself at the crossroads of a growing debate in America…

VOICEOVER: A debate between the doctrines of free speech, the establishment clause, and the free exercise of religion.

REPORTER: The issue has stirred controversy and tonight a Santa Fe teenager issued her answer for all to hear. And more on this prayer controversy…

MW: Prayer became an issue in Santa Fe in the early ‘90’s basically saying that there was too much religion in the public schools.

REPORTER: A federal court has proved that pre-game prayer unconstitutional violates the separation of church and state…

REPORTER: School districts may never promote, sponsor or support prayer at sporting events…

MW: in the Spring of my junior year they decided to have an election of the student speaker to give the message at the football game… which has been a prayer tradition in Santa Fe…

MW: So I took the job of giving the message… which is what they were calling it now… they weren’t saying invocation, they weren’t saying prayer. They were saying message.

MW: Their current policy was that a person elected to give the message could give a message of his/her choosing…

VOICEOVER: As Marian prepared her prayer, the school district was working hard to solve this difficult problem…

VOICEOVER: …and the policy was changed again.

MW: And I didn’t know at that time how big it was really going to get…

MW: My name was called over the loud speaker to come to the principal’s office… and so they handed me a new piece of paper and it said prayers, blessings, invocations and any reference to a deity are prohibited.

MW: I’m really just a kid that’s going to high school…

MW: And now I have these protestors and um…

MW: So this really was heating up

MW: They wore buttons that said what would Jefferson do?

MW: I felt very small.

VOICEOVER: Thomas Jefferson believed that there should be a wall of separation between church and state to protect individuals from government endorsement of religion.

VOICEOVER: In Marian’s case, is school prayer about protecting free speech or does it cross Jefferson’s boundary?

MW: They were really laying it on thick…

MW: I called up my attorney and I said this is not something I can fight by myself. I think we’re going to have to sue.

Kelly Coghlan: Preventing or having a policy of no prayer or no mention of God breaches the Constitution just as much as having policies that coerce or required students to pray – neither of those policies are neutral and schools must be neutral in matters of religion.

KC: Hey, good to see you.

KC: my favorite client

KC: its like I can see the crowds just like it was that night. Its all the cameras… from here to here. It was just like the president was going to be speaking and they were all pointed up to you.

MW: I sued my school district…

WM: I mean the whole point is that this student speech, student initiated, student led. I’m not an agent of the government. There’s really not reason for the school to regulate me in that way. And I truly believe that a high school student is old enough to decide what they want to say in a public forum and how to exercise their free speech and their free exercise of religion. I think that we’re not always given enough credit.

REPORTER: Fighting back Marian Ward went to court and won a temporary ruling allowing her to offer a prayer at the high school game in Santa Fe a small town south of Houston.

REPORTER: Seventeen year old, Marian Ward, was admittedly nervous as she marched into the stadium Friday night

MW: There were at least 4,000 that night… standing room only…

MW: Just a neat moment… everything hinged right there… in that little bubble…

MW: let’s bow our heads and give thanks to the Lord… Dear Lord, than you for this evening. Thank you for all of the prayers that were lifted up for me this week.

MW: And give thanks to the Lord… a prayer just like I would have said if their had never been a problem…

MW: especially those involved in the game.

MW: It was just overwhelming.

MW: And then we had a football game.

MW: All that and then Friday night, in a minute and a half of time and that was it…

MW: Kind of interesting what hinges on just a little moment

MW: I was just a pretty regular high school student. Nothing really spectacular over anybody else my age I would say…

MW: Its not out of the realm of your influence to make a difference… in your community… to make a difference on a national level, constitutionally.

MW: Positive stories can be told about us and our time as young adults.

VOICEOVER: Marian’s activism helped to push for a resolution to the constitutional question -- is it student-initiated, student-led prayer at high school football games within the law?

VOICEOVER: Based on the Supreme Court ruling in Doe v. Santa Fe ISD school prayer is unconstitutional.

VOICEOVER: But this decision continues to be challenged today.