Showing posts with label Cambridge Christian School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cambridge Christian School. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

This Christian School Is Suing for Their Right to Pray - CBN News


hands folded in prayer
This Christian School Is Suing for Their Right to Pray
09-28-2016



A high school football team stopped from praying before games is taking their battle off the field and into the courtroom.
"We were really excited to play in the championship game," Jacon Enns, Cambridge Christian School football team kicker, said. "But then we showed up and they wouldn't let us pray. 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?'"
Enns is referring to what happened when the Florida High School Athletic Association told them if they prayed over the loudspeaker, it would be viewed as the "unlawful government endorsement of religion."
The school doesn't agree and filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday for the incident with the FHSAA at their championship game.
CCS is suing the FHSAA for violating the school's constitutional rights. The school calls the FHSAA's actions a violation of free speech and religious freedom.
"This is a clear case of governmental interference in a private school's right to exercise its religious freedom," Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, said. "Pre-game prayer is not only a long-standing tradition for Cambridge Christian; it is fundamental to its reason for being."
"By banning us from praying over the loudspeaker, the FHSAA told our students that prayer is something bad and should be forbidden," Tim Euler, head of Cambridge Christian, said. "We want our students to know that prayer is good and a fundamental constitutional right that should be defended."
Cambridge Christian's attorneys are prepared to defend that constitutional right and hope to make prayer legal on the football field again.

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

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.
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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