A group of Christian students was allegedly ordered to stop praying outside the U.S. Supreme Court building on May 5 because a court police officer told them it was against the law.
UPDATE 7/19/10 (video news report):
-- From "Students Allegedly Ordered to Stop Praying Outside Supreme Court Building" by Todd Starnes, FoxNews.com 7/15/10
The students were part of a junior high school American History class at Wickenburg Christian Academy in Arizona. After taking pictures on the steps of the Supreme Court building, their teacher [Maureen Rigo] gathered them to a side location where they formed a circle and began to pray.
According to Nate Kellum, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, a police officer “abruptly” interrupted the prayer and ordered the group to cease and desist.
“They were told to stop praying because they were violating the law and they had to take their prayer elsewhere,” Kellum told FOX News Radio.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Christian Teacher Wants to Pray on High Court Steps" by Nathan Black, Christian Post Reporter 7/16/10
A Christian legal firm has threatened U.S. Supreme Court officials with a lawsuit unless they state in writing that people can quietly pray on the court's grounds.
A letter was sent by the Alliance Defense Fund on Thursday on behalf of a Wickenburg, Ariz., teacher who was prohibited by a Supreme Court police officer in May from praying with her students on the steps of the court.
Kellum contends in the letter to Supreme Court officials that Rigo and her students were not praying loudly as to be heard or trying to attract attention. They were simply communicating to each other and to God, he said.
"There is no reason to silence Mrs. Rigo's activities since these activities do not attract attention, create a crowd, or give off the appearance of partiality," ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum argues in the letter. "The ban on private prayers cannot hope to survive First Amendment scrutiny."
The incident came a day before the National Day of Prayer, an annual prayer event that was ruled unconstitutional earlier this year by a federal judge.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
