WATCH: ‘Lord’s Prayer Valedictorian” Opens Up To Megyn Kelly
“Lord’s prayer valedictorian” Roy Costner IV sat down with Megyn Kelly on FNC this afternoon to talk about what happened at his high school commencement address.
Last Saturday at the Liberty High School graduation in South Carolina, Costner scrapped his prepared, officially approved speech at graduation and recited the Lord’s prayer instead to the wild applause and cheering by the student body. The video of this event went viral.
Apparently outside groups previously complained about prayers at school board meetings, and, as a result, the Pickens County School District did away with prayer at the graduation ceremonies. That is, until Roy Costner took the mic and registered a protest against that decision by ripping up his prepared remarks at the podium.
Kelly asked Costner what it felt up on that stage. Costner called the audience reaction an awesome moment. “You can’t tell it from the video but I was in tears on stage from joy … I didn’t expect an outcome like that … I was hoping maybe a few would clap but then it blew up … I had goosebumps all over.” He admitted that he has been astounded by the reaction that he has received since then.
Costner stated that school officials told him previously than any discussion of God in his valedictory address was off limits. What got this all started, Costner explained, was a group from Wisconsin that had complained about prayers being recited at the beginning of meetings. A lawsuit was apparently threatened. This prompted officials to ban prayers at all school events.
He noted that the local community “is strongly for prayer, for God; we had no complaints that I know of to the district.”
He added that in his opinion reading the Lord’s prayer was necessary given everything that had been going on in Pickens County as far as pressure from outside groups. After praying himself, Costner decided in advance to ditch his speech and instead deliver the Lord’s prayer “The students were with me,” he said, some even reciting the words along with him. But he added modestly, “it was nothing special I did.”
Watch Roy Costner’s interview with Megyn Kelly on Fox News Channel:
