{"id":498,"date":"2010-07-15T21:01:33","date_gmt":"2010-07-15T21:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/prayerplainandsimple\/2010\/07\/diversity-police-strike-again-students-ordered-to-stop-praying-outside-supreme-court-building.html"},"modified":"2010-07-15T21:01:33","modified_gmt":"2010-07-15T21:01:33","slug":"diversity-police-strike-again-students-ordered-to-stop-praying-outside-supreme-court-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2010\/07\/diversity-police-strike-again-students-ordered-to-stop-praying-outside-supreme-court-building.html","title":{"rendered":"Diversity Police Strike Again: Students Ordered to Stop Praying Outside Supreme Court Building"},"content":{"rendered":"

May 5, 2010: Police order a group of Christian junior high school students to stop praying outside the U.S. Supreme Court building. The officer told them it was against the law. Say what? <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

The students, from Wickenburg Christian Academy in Arizona had traveled to Washington to study American history. After taking photos on the steps of the Supreme Court building, their teacher gathered them in a circle and they began to pray. Shortly after, police officer abruptly interrupted them and ordered the group to cease and desist because they were “violating the law.”  <\/span><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

15 students and seven adults complied with the officer, left the Supreme Court grounds and continued their prayer.<\/font> <\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

My guess: I doubt that this police officer is an anti-religious zealot. I doubt he\/she hates Christians or is an ALCU plant waiting to pounce on pious youth and brand them as anti-constitutional rabble. I do see this as a sad and dangerous outcome of a climate created by those who have – evidently successfully – labeled Christians expressing their faith in the public square as enemies of the peace. Perhaps it’s a sorry product of other violent religious radicalism, but to stifle civil and religious liberty in the interest of “keeping peace” is the first step toward a society willing to suppress rights for sake of security. This officer has been so indoctrinated by the cult of diversity and civil neutrality that he\/she has forgotten the very constitution that the Supreme Court is sworn to help clarify. How ironic – that this seeming slight breech, though far from slight in reality – should happen on the doorstep of our highest court, during the very session they were deliberating the limits of religious free speech.  <\/span><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

“God help us! God, give us wisdom and courage to continue to pray to you at any time and at any place. We again commit to you to stand publically for our faith and to declare for all to hear that we depend on you and need your goodness and guidance in our individual lives and in our nation. Lord, have mercy!” <\/strong><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 5, 2010: Police order a group of Christian junior high school students to stop praying outside the U.S. Supreme Court building. The officer told them it was against the law. Say what? The students, from Wickenburg Christian Academy in Arizona had traveled to Washington to study American history. After taking photos on the steps…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government"],"yoast_head":"\nDiversity Police Strike Again: Students Ordered to Stop Praying Outside Supreme Court Building<\/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\/prayerplainandsimple\/2010\/07\/diversity-police-strike-again-students-ordered-to-stop-praying-outside-supreme-court-building.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Diversity Police Strike Again: Students Ordered to Stop Praying Outside Supreme Court Building\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"May 5, 2010: Police order a group of Christian junior high school students to stop praying outside the U.S. Supreme Court building. 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He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the author of \"Six Prayers God Always Answers: Results May Vary,\" and \"Nine Ways God Always Speaks: Only Available in Certain States,\" both co-written with Jennifer Schuchmann. His third book is \"The Karma of Jesus.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mark is a native of Santa Cruz, California. He has studied at Azusa Pacific University, The Academy of Performing Arts, Cambridge, Ontario, and Luther Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. from Regent University. Mark and his wife Jill have four children. 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