{"id":8100,"date":"2011-10-04T17:38:23","date_gmt":"2011-10-04T21:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/?p=8100"},"modified":"2011-10-04T17:38:23","modified_gmt":"2011-10-04T21:38:23","slug":"kids-pray-school-officials-will-quit-cowering-in-fear-of-the-american-civil-liberties-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2011\/10\/kids-pray-school-officials-will-quit-cowering-in-fear-of-the-american-civil-liberties-union","title":{"rendered":"Kids pray school officials will quit cowering in fear of the American Civil Liberties Union"},"content":{"rendered":"

What did all those kids who gathered at flagpoles outside their schools last week pray about?<\/p>\n

At Westmoreland High School in Sumner County, Tennessee, teens who were among the 2 million nationwide who showed up early to pray said they did it to honor God and to\u00a0make a public witness of their faith —\u00a0but also to show their support for their teachers and coaches who were barred from participating in the event.<\/p>\n

Others told reporters that they came to pray for the school board and — incredibly — for the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee which has filed a federal lawsuit, accusing the district of promoting Christianity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe prayed that the [ACLU] wouldn\u2019t be a hindrance to us, but also that the Board of Education would change their thinking and stop appeasing the ACLU,\u201d said one\u00a0dad who brought his kids to the annual event.<\/p>\n

“Many in the Westmoreland community for weeks have been in an uproar over controversy surrounding the reprimand of four Westmoreland Middle School coaches who were observed bowing their heads during a student-led prayer after a football game,” Jennifer Easton\u00a0in the\u00a0Gallatin News Examiner<\/em> in an article that also was published on the Nashville Tennesseean<\/em> <\/a>website:<\/p>\n

The coaches were required by Principal Danny Kay Robinson to sign letters acknowledging they would not be allowed to coach if they violated a new school board policy prohibiting school personnel from engaging in any conduct that appears to endorse an organization’s or club’s message.<\/p>\n

The new policy is one of at least six changes the board has made in response to the ACLU-TN lawsuit since June.<\/p>\n

Some who attended the See You At The Pole event said they felt the Board of Education had gone too far and were infringing on the rights of school employees to observe their faith.<\/p>\n

Kayla Carter, a senior at Westmoreland High School, was at the pole to pray for her school and classmates, but also to pray for her teachers who couldn\u2019t participate. \u201cI think we all want to take a stand,” she said. “It\u2019s upsetting and it\u2019s not right teachers can\u2019t pray with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former WHS Principal Dwayne Oldham, who retired earlier this year, did pray with students. \u201cI think it\u2019s important that kids have an example to go by,” Oldham said. “That\u2019s something that\u2019s lacking in our society today.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What did all those kids who gathered at flagpoles outside their schools last week pray about? At Westmoreland High School in Sumner County, Tennessee, teens who were among the 2 million nationwide who showed up early to pray said they did it to honor God and to\u00a0make a public witness of their faith —\u00a0but also…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[354,1031],"tags":[2225,1638,80,1681],"class_list":["post-8100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayer","category-youth-2","tag-american-civil-liberties-union","tag-sumner-county","tag-tennessee","tag-westmoreland-high-school"],"yoast_head":"\nKids pray school officials will quit cowering in fear of the American Civil Liberties Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2011\/10\/kids-pray-school-officials-will-quit-cowering-in-fear-of-the-american-civil-liberties-union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kids pray school officials will quit cowering in fear of the American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What did all those kids who gathered at flagpoles outside their schools last week pray about? 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