Why Are So Many Kids Being Told Public Prayer Is Against the Law? - TODD STARNES CHARISMA NEWS

Prayer is important at Florida's Cambridge Christian School. (Courtesy/Liberty Institute)

Why Are So Many Kids Being Told Public Prayer Is Against the Law?

1/26/2016 TODD STARNES   CHARISMA NEWS

Prayer is important at Florida's Cambridge Christian School.

"We train our students that prayer is foundational to their walk with Christ," Head of School Tim Euler told me. "Our faith is founded in prayer."

So when Cambridge Christian faced off against University Christian School last December in the 2A state championship football game, they asked the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) if they could begin with a word of prayer.

The FHSAA said no.

They told both Christian schools that offering a pre-game prayer was against the law—that it could be viewed as an endorsement of religion since the schools would be praying on government property.

"This is ridiculous," said Jeremy Dys, an attorney with Liberty Institute. "We've got two Christian schools being told they can't pray."

Liberty Institute, a law firm that specializes in religious liberty issues, is representing Cambridge Christian.

Dys said the FHSAA broke the law when they forbade the Christian schools from praying last December at the Citrus Bowl.

"We have the state trying to impose strictures upon the church," he told me. "I think we've gone a long way away from who we are as a country when the state starts telling Christian schools they can no longer pray in public."

Liberty Institute sent a demand letter to the FHSAA demanding a written apology for what they call a "gross violation" of the law. Should they fail to do so, the law firm has threatened to file a federal lawsuit.

The FHSAA has yet to respond to their demands.

The prayer ban disturbed not only the administration but also the football team.

Jacob Enns, the team's 17-year-old kicker, told me the prayer is extremely important.

"It's something we did before every game this season," he said. "It's been our tradition ever since I've been on the team, and our tradition was ruined. It made me wonder, is it wrong to pray?"

Still, the team gathered on the field and recited "The Lord's Prayer" before the game—and some spectators joined in.

"Prayer is something we've been taught to do and to do no matter what—even in public," Jacob told me.

For Cambridge Christian, prayer is a means to glorify God in all that it does—including on the gridiron.

"We are raising godly young men that can make a difference in the world they live in," head coach Bob Dare said. "This is why CCS is so committed to praying before every home football game."

It serves as a reminder to the young men on the field, Euler said.

"Football is great, but in reality their walk with Jesus and prayer is vitally more important," he said.

Todd Starnes is host of "Fox News & Commentary," heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page and follow him on Twitter. His latest book is God Less America.

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The Day Christians Were Martyred on American Soil

Hundreds gather for a candlelight vigil for the UCC shooting victims. (Reuters)

The Day Christians Were Martyred on American Soil

10/5/2015 TODD STARNES  charisma news

Life or death was determined by the answer to a single question: are you a Christian?

That was the question asked by an anti-Christian gunman who stormed into a classroom at Oregon's Umpqua Community College.

Eyewitnesses say the shooter targeted Christians.

Kortney Moore was inside the classroom. She told the Roseburg News-Review that the shooter ordered students to get on the ground—and then told them to stand up and state their religion.

"And they would stand up and he said, 'Good, because you're a Christian, you're going to see God in just about one second," Stacy Boylan said in a televised report. "And then he shot and killed them."

His 18-year-old daughter was struck in the back by a bullet—that traveled down her spine. She survived. Miss Moore, too, survived.

Davis Jaques, publisher of the Roseburg Beacon News, said he received a text message from a student who said she was inside the classroom.

"The shooter was lining people up and asking if they were Christians," the message read. "If they said yes, then they were shot in the head. If they said no or didn't answer, they were shot in the leg."

Christians were martyred for their faith—on American soil—a fact mostly ignored by most of the mainstream media and the White House.

The New York Times only mentioned that the gunman inquired about people's "religions" and one cable television news channel opined that the shooter's motive was unclear.

President Obama's behavior in the aftermath of the massacre was quite frankly unpresidential. Instead of calling for religious tolerance—he delivered an unhinged tirade on gun control.

"Somebody somewhere will comment and say Obama politicized this issue," the president said. "Well, this is something we should politicize."

But I reckon it's politically incorrect to address the persecution of Christians.

That could explain why the White House has expressed less than passionate outrage over the near-genocide of Christians in the Middle East. And that could also explain why his administration has failed to secure the release of an American pastor being tortured in an Iranian jail.

These days "lambs being led to the slaughter" is not exactly a politically correct narrative.

Franklin Graham eloquently memorialized the fallen on his Facebook page and reminded us that Christians are being persecuted around the world.

"The bold souls at Umpqua Community College who stood up to say they were followers of Jesus Christ were heinously gunned down with no mercy," Graham wrote. "Jesus said, 'If they hate you, remember they hated me before they hated you.'"

I cannot even begin to imagine the courage it took for our fellow believers to take a stand—knowing that to do so—would require the ultimate sacrifice.

But their families can take comfort in knowing that after they took their last breath on earth, they took their first breath in heaven.

Todd Starnes is host of "Fox News & Commentary," heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page and follow him on Twitter. His latest book is God Less America.

For a limited time, we are extending our celebration of the 40th anniversary of Charisma. As a special offer, you can get 40 issues of Charisma magazine for only $40!

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