MSU says Northern grad prayer OK ACLU not planning to pursue the issue further

The local university was not violating the Constitution by having a prayer at its graduation ceremony, a legal counsel said in reply to a complaint.

Leslie Taylor, counsel for the Montana State University system, said case law does not support the American Civil Liberty Union of Montana's complaint that having a Christian prayer at Montana State University-Northern's 2010 graduation ceremony violated the separation of church and state.

"Therefore, I cannot join in your conclusion that the invocation and benediction in this case 'were unconstitutional and inappropriate,'" Taylor wrote to ACL...