Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty - Trial in School Prayer Contempt Charge Thursday

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Trial in School Prayer Contempt Charge Thursday

Written by Don Byrd

Wednesday, 16 September 2009

The principal and athletic director of Pace High School in Santa Rosa County (FL) face criminal contempt of court charges for offering prayers at school events in violation of a judge's order in a trial set to begin tomorrow, (Thursday) September 17.

Charges were filed against (Frank) Lay and (Robert) Freeman after Lay, who is in his 20th year as the school's principal, asked Freeman to offer a prayer before the meal at a Jan. 29 luncheon in the school's field house honoring boosters and other adults. Lay is a member of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola.

"I did it primarily out of habit. It's just something we've always done," Lay said. "I have been painted here as somewhat of a rebel. I don't consider myself that, nor do I want to be. I am a Christian. I am not ashamed of my faith."

Meanwhile, members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus have thrown their support behind the two.

29 members of Congress, some of them members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus... signed the letter of support.The letter ends: "The tradition of offering prayer in America has become so interwoven into our nation's spiritual history that to charge someone criminally for engaging in such an innocent practice would astonish the men who founded this country on religious liberty."

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