Spiritual leaders of many faiths gathered Aug. 1 at the Ignite Achievement Academy at Elder W. Diggs School 42 to open the school year with a celebration of faith and spiritual diversity and prayers for peace among children, parents and the local community.
School principals Shy-Quon Ely II and Brooke Beavers joined with faith leaders from Christian, Islamic, Buddhist and Hindu faith traditions to demonstrate and celebrate the diversity of faiths in Indianapolis schools. The gathering also celebrated prayer rights in schools under recently enacted state legislation in House Enrolled Act 1024, which was supported by the Greater Indianapolis NAACP Branch 3053 in the 2017 legislative session.
The bill’s author, Rep. John Bartlett, D-Indianapolis, said he authored the legislation because he wanted students to have the opportunity to express their faith at school without repercussions.
“Many believe these freedoms are already available for children who attend our schools,” said Bartlett in a statement. “My intention was to place those protections into state code and also provide guidelines that can help schools understand how to establish policies that conform with the intentions outlined in this bill.”
House Enrolled Act 1024 prohibits discrimination in public schools based on religious belief or expression and allows religious expression in schools. Ignite Achievement Academy is proactively implementing the new law by setting aside space in the school building for student meditation and prayer.
Ely said Ignite Achievement Academy at the historic Elder W. Diggs School seeks to serve as a trailblazing institution that allows faith and spiritual diversity as a means to find ties that bind humanity culturally and socially.
“Our community and nation is reeling with separation and social stratification, injustice, inequity, inequality, systemic oppression, etc., and the effects of such results directly in impoverished, miseducated, dilapidated and violent communities filled with many mentally and physically diseased citizens,” Ely said. “We at Ignite Achievement Academy believe that all people of each faith can and should be encouraged to summon a higher power within and without the school setting, in order that a divine intervention might take place so that our communities and nation may experience a fresh embrace of tolerance; a forward progression toward diversity; a genuine appreciation for human dignity; an incomprehensible commitment to peace and a pervading love for all people that is built on a mutual respect of culture and humankind.”
“We applaud the Ignite Achievement Academy for implementing the new school prayer law in a way that celebrates our religious diversity and protects religious freedom in schools,” said Chrystal Ratcliffe, president of the Greater Indianapolis NAACP Branch 3053. “We were pleased to join the school and community leaders to pray for peace in our schools and in our community. We encourage other school leaders in Indianapolis to do the same.”
