Criminal Contempt Case Over Mealtime Prayer Goes to Trial Today

Criminal Contempt Case Over Mealtime Prayer Goes to Trial Today...

"Mothers and fathers, how often have I counseled you to protect your children in these days. You will find that many of those that you entrust to teach your children are bringing them into a world of unrealistic atheism. Already, My child, it saddens My heart to know that you are not, as a nation, allowed any longer to pray in your schools." - Our Lady of the Roses, June 18, 1992

LifeSiteNews.com reported on September 17, 2009:

Liberty Counsel, a Christian-based legal advocacy group, is in federal District Court today defending Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman on charges of criminal contempt over a blessing of the meal at a luncheon to honor private contributors to the school's athletic program.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the teachers after it learned that Principal Lay asked Mr. Freeman to say a prayer over the food in the presence of school employees and people who had helped with the school project. The ACLU claims Lay and Freeman violated a court injunction that forbids prayers by administrators at school functions.

If convicted, Lay and Freeman face up to $5,000 in fines, six months in jail, and the possible loss of their retirement benefits.

Late last month, a similar charge against Michelle Winkler, a clerical assistant in the same school district, was dropped when federal District Judge Casey Rodgers ruled against the charge of contempt brought forward by the ACLU.

Winkler was charged with civil contempt of the court injunction banning prayer when she invited her husband, who is not employed by the school, to read a prayer blessing she wrote for the honorees at a privately funded event to honor non-instructional employees of the school district.

Lay and Freeman have received a letter of support from Congressman Randy Forbes, Chairman of the bipartisan Congressional Prayer Caucus, who, with Congressman Mike McIntyre, Co-Chair, Congressman Jeff Miller, whose district includes Santa Rosa County, and 58 members of the Caucus, condemns the attempt to criminalize prayer in America.

The letter states the members "are standing with you in prayer and support as you face your trial on Thursday because of offering a prayer," and concludes that the country's founders would be astonished at someone being criminally charged for praying.

"The tradition of offering prayer in America has become so interwoven into our nation's spiritual heritage, that to charge someone criminally for engaging in such an innocent practice would astonish the men who founded this country on religious liberty."

Commenting on the court case against the school employees, Congressman Forbes said in a press release: "This week the small school district of Santa Rosa County, Florida has captured the attention of at least 30 Members of Congress - not because of any political opportunity or hidden agenda. It is because this case signifies an effort to criminalize prayer in America.

"Today it is school employees in Santa Rosa County. Tomorrow it could be your child's high school coach, your school's athletic sponsors, or your spouse. If we do not stand up today for our religious liberties and the right of all Americans to pray according to their faith, our children and grandchildren will have no foundation left on which to pray," said Forbes.

Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented on the irony of a court challenge to public prayer being heard on the day the US celebrates its constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms, National Constitution Day.

"While we celebrate our enduring Constitution, we are reminded that liberty is always a generation away from extinction. Liberty is not inherited and is not transmitted in our DNA. Liberty must be secured by each generation.

"What a sad state of affairs, when on the day we celebrate the oldest and most enduring Constitution in the world, that honorable public servants are tried as criminals for praying over a meal. This may be the America the ACLU seeks, but it is not the America Liberty Counsel knows, nor is it the America the Founders envisioned."

Read previous LSN coverage:

Florida High School Officials Face Criminal Charges Over Luncheon Prayer

School Official Cleared of Contempt Charge in Prayer Case

400 Students Defy ACLU and Stand to Recite Lord's Prayer at Graduation

“I have but one more discourse with you, My child—that is that you must go forward and demand that the prayers be returned to the schools. In that manner, We can approach the children, and return them to their rightful place in the reign of God.” – Jesus, October 5, 1985

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400 Students Defy ACLU and Stand to Recite Lord's Prayer at Graduation...

"The children of God will face enslavement by the enemies of God, known as your world Christianity, unless you pray and carry the banner of Faithful and True to God the Father." - Our Lady of the Roses, September 7, 1974

LifeSiteNews.com reported on June 4, 2009:

Nearly 400 graduating seniors at Pace High School stood up in protest against the ACLU and recited the Lord’s Prayer during their graduation ceremony last Saturday. Many of the students also painted crosses on their graduation caps to make a statement of faith. (To watch a video of the prayer, click here)

The prayerful protest by the students comes on the heels of a lawsuit the ACLU filed against the Santa Rosa County School District, claiming some of the teachers and administration endorsed religion. The suit was filed on behalf of two students, who said that the teachers were promoting their views of religion.

The two teachers at Pace High School were Principal Frank Lay and school teacher Michelle Winkler. The ACLU alleges that during a dinner event held at the school, Principal Lay asked the athletic director to bless the meal. In another incident, the ACLU alleges that Michelle Winkler’s husband, who is not a school board employee, offered prayer at an awards ceremony

According to the ACLU lawsuit, graduation ceremonies during the past five years at Central, Jay, Milton, Navarre and Pace High Schools in the Santa Rosa District have included prayers by students – often members of groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes or the Christian World Order. The graduation ceremonies at Santa Rosa Adult School and Santa Rosa Learning Academy also have included prayers.

Leading up to the graduation ceremony, the ACLU demanded that Pace High School censor students from offering prayers or saying anything religious. In the end, members of the student body were not permitted to speak at the graduation.

The graduating class at the school, however, decided to react against the ACLU bullying by taking a stand at graduation. As soon as Principal Lay asked everyone to be seated at the ceremony, the graduating class remained standing and recited the Lord’s Prayer.

ACLU attorney Benjamin Stevenson told ABC Channel Three after the event: "Our feeling is that it's regrettable that the students took over the ceremony to impose their religious views on the audience who may not have shared the same religious views.

"School officials have a responsibility to protect the silently held religious views of others."

Stevenson said that something should have been done to stop the recitation of the Lord's Prayer and that it is too early to know whether the ACLU will pursue further legal action.

Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: “Neither students nor teachers shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate. The students at Pace High School refused to remain silent and were not about to be bullied by the ACLU.

“We have decided to represent faculty, staff and students of Pace High School,” he said, “because the ACLU is clearly violating their First Amendment rights. Schools are not religion-free zones, and any attempt to make them so is unconstitutional.”

"My children, I repeat, 666, known forever in the Book of life, the Bible, as the man of perdition, is not one man, but the forces of evil gathered like vultures to destroy the Christian and Christianity, to enslave the good and make powerful the bad, to make sin a way of life until each and every living creature of knowledgeable age must make the decision: Who is your master, man or God?" - Our Lady of the Roses, April 9, 1977

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