Crowd cheers as Ohio graduates defy atheist group through the Lord's Prayer recital

This year's graduates of East Liverpool High School have defied an atheist organization's demand to put an end to the school's 70-year-old tradition of singing the Lord's Prayer at graduation by reciting the prayer instead.

"We're really big at traditions at this school and I think it would've been nice to have the same as my brother had whenever he graduated," said Student Vice President Cami Post, as reported by NewsChannel 4.

The local news station named the class valedictorian Jonathan Montgomery, who was at the stage at that time, as the one who led the graduating class to recite the Lord's Prayer. The class act drew a roar of applause and standing ovation from those at the stands.

The Ohio-based high school was threatened by the nation's largest atheist organization Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) to remove the singing of the Lord's Prayer at the school's graduation exercises or face legal battle.

"We said, 'Okay, we just won't do it anymore.' It was a decision made because we don't have a lot of money and we'd rather hire teachers than pay lawyers," School Board President Larry Walton explained.

According to WFMJ, it all started when a parent made a complaint followed shortly by a letter from FFRF sent to the district.

"I'm sorry this happened but, it's a war we can't win," Walton said.

The school's choir director, Lisa Ensinger, appealed to the East Liverpool Board of Education earlier in May. She worried that the removal of the Lord's Prayer could "cause great detriment to our music education program."

She wondered what other songs would no longer be allowed to be performed in their school. She cited Mozart's Requiem Mass, Handel's Messiah, and music from the Medieval period as other musical pieces that may no longer be allowed in the future.

In their website, FFRF reasoned that, "Children in public schools are a captive audience. Making prayer an official part of the school day is coercive and invasive."

FFRF insists that religion is a private thing while schools are not so the two should not be mixed together.