Arrested for Praying in Public - Guilty by Association

Santa Rosa County, Florida - Two school employees were arrested for praying in public at a luncheon - not during their school duty hours. How and why did this happen?

Last year, the ACLU brought a lawsuit against the Santa Rosa County School District, claiming that some of the administrators and teachers were endorsing religion. The ACLU submitted a Consent Order to the School District. This Consent Order bans all employees from public prayer and some other religious activities, even before or after school hours...a completely illegal order according to the real First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

But instead of engaging in battle with the ACLU, the School District chose to accept the ACLU's Order. Without any legal argument, the Pensacola Federal District Court allowed the Consent Order which unconstitutionally infringes on the rights of both school employees and their students.

That wasn't enough for the ACLU. They began going against individual employees.

Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman prayed at a luncheon which included former booster club members and others who had helped with a school project. The ACLU complained that Lay and Freeman offered a prayer to bless the meal (served to consenting adults at the appreciation luncheon). Based on the ACLU's allegations, U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers has now initiated criminal contempt proceedings against Lay and Freeman to the United States Attorney's office for prosecution. Unbelievably, the U.S. Attorney accepted the assignment and is proceeding with prosecution.

If convicted, Mr. Lay and Mr. Freeman are subject to fines and imprisonment, yet neither willfully violated any orders of the court.

Attorneys from Liberty Counsel are acting on behalf of Freeman and Lay. On the Liberty Counsel website, Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: "It is a sad day in America when school officials are criminally prosecuted for a prayer over a meal..." "...It is outrageous and an offense to the First Amendment to punish a school official for a simple prayer."

In a related Liberty Counsel case: Michelle Winkler, a clerical assistant at the same School District, attended an off-campus event, after school hours and sponsored by private funding, to honor non-teaching employees of the schools. She asked her husband, not a school employee, to read a prayer she wrote for the honorees. The ACLU brought a civil contempt case against Winkler. However, in this case Judge Rodgers ruled against the ACLU, concluding that for Winkler's husband to pray at a voluntary gathering outside of school did not violate ACLU's Consent Order.

UPDATE: It is being reported at various websites that Freeman and Lay are rightfully being charged because they previously violated the consent order and were already in flagrant disobedience. Two students had apparently gone to the ACLU because the employees had "allowed prayer at school events." It is not against the law for school officials to allow students as individuals to pray. Defendants' attorneys explain that the ACLU consent order itself contains violations to First Amendment free speech. In this latest occurrence, the school employees were not acting in direct contact with students. They were also on their own time.

This article (not including the Update) originally appeared at The Underground Online Christian Magazine (www.theundergroundsite.com) with the following URL: http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2009/09/arrested-for-praying-in-public-guilty-by-association/ .

Sources:
-Liberty Counsel Press Releases:
Principal and Athletic Director Face Criminal Charges for Prayer at Luncheon, 8/10/09, http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14100&PRID=840.
Michelle Winkler is Cleared of Civil Contempt Charge in Santa Rosa County Prayer Case, 8/24/09 http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14100&PRID=844.
-Washington Times, "School pray charges stir protests," Julia Duin, 8/14/09, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/14/criminal-prayer-case-stirs-protests/.
-CNN News, "School brass facing prison time for luncheon prayer," 8/18/09, http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/17/Florida.school.prayer/index.html?eref=rss_topstories.