Jessica Ahlquist, high school sophomore from Rhode Island, recently won a lawsuit to remove an 8-foot prayer displayed on the wall of the Cranston West high school auditorium.

A seventh grader created the prayer, according to nytimes.com, and the prayer was to serve as a “moral guide”. The prayer was first hung in 1963, one year after the Supreme Court banned organized prayer in public schools.

A federal judge deemed the prayer’s 49-year presence a violation of the “principle of government neutrality in religion”, according to nytimes.com, and since the court’s verdict, Ahlquist has received online threats and a police escort to school.

Although Ahlquist claimed the removal did not sprout from selfish intentions, a Twitter account against Ahlquist has posted vulgar comments about her and the situation. According to nytimes.com, Cranston West students are not the only contributors to the account.

Brittany Lanni, a 2009 Cranston West graduate, said students have never been forced to recite the prayer, but according to nytimes.com, Alquist objected to the prayer in her predominately Roman Catholic community because of her “outspoken atheism.”

“[The removal of the prayer is] for their own good,” Ahlquist said.  “I feel like they might see it as a very negative thing right now, but I’m defending their Constitution, too.”

According to CNN.com, the prayer currently resides under a tarp on the auditorium wall.