School Prayer Service Today In Jay; Everyone Invited

March 14, 2009

A prayer service will held Saturday afternoon at Jay High School. Sponsored by over a dozen churches, the service is a direct response to an ACLU lawsuit and  a federal court judge’s order against any prayer or promotion of religion in Santa Rosa County Schools.

At 4 p.m. Saturday at least 14 churches will come together on the baseball field at Jay High School to pray for the students in the Jay area. Herring said the gathering will not be impacted by the judge’s order because the event is not school sponsored, and the churches are paying to rent the facility under district guidelines.  The event will take place rain or shine.

“We want to encourage these kids to stand in their faith,” said Pastor Mitch Herring of Poplar Dell Baptist Church, “and let them know that they have people praying for them. We want the Lord to raise up leaders at our schools.”

The event is being called “Sounding the Trumpet”.  Shofar horns will be sounded during the service. The horn, made from a ram’s horn, is sometimes used in religious ceremonies, often to signify change.

schoolprayerrally.jpg“We are going to come as Christians, not any denomination, and offer prayer that our students will serve the Lord,” said Pastor  Herring. His Poplar Dell church is located in North Escambia, but he is taking part in the service because he lives in Jay.

“We want the children to know we are for them, even though they took Baccalaureate away from them,” the pastor said.

Berrydale Baptist, Brownsdale Baptist,  Cobbtown Christian, Cobbtown Holiness, Jay First Baptist, Jay Pentacostal, Jay United Methodist, Mt. Carmel United Methodist, Pine Level Baptist and Poplar Dell Baptist Church are among those participating in the non-denominational prayer service.

U.S. District Court Judge Casey Rodgers issued an injunction banning prayer and religion in Santa Rosa County Schools  following an ACLU lawsuit against Santa Rosa County. That injunction prevents the school district from promoting or sponsoring prayers during school-sponsored events, including graduation; planning or financing religious Baccalaureate services; holding school-sponsored events at religious venues when alternative locations are reasonably available; and prohibits school officials from promoting their personal religious beliefs in class or during school-sponsored events and activities.

That order has also prompted many Escambia County high schools, including Northview, to eliminate a school sponsored Baccalaureate this year.

Want to go? The prayer service will be held at Jay High School, Saturday at 4 p.m. It is open to the public, not just to people connected to Jay High School or Santa Rosa County. Escambia County residents are encouraged to attend.

Comments

6 Responses to “School Prayer Service Today In Jay; Everyone Invited”

  1. Darryl on March 14th, 2009 4:36 pm

    to “religions” if the service was inclusive, then that wasn’t spelled out, but from the sound of it, it wasn’t for it was strictly a Christain service and within the eyes of courts, that will be the issue the residents of Jay will have to address. Would other religions have been accepted? It is a tough question.

    To ???; the issue with sects is that each has differing views, some of which can effect public policy if they were influential. Such as the role of women in matters of authority, some churches allow women leadership roles and some do not. To an extreme, some Christians take seriously the end of Mark on handling snakes (serpents) and drinking poison to show their commitment. The reason there are so many denominations is there are that many variations of belief. It is a point that the forefathers understood well and with the history of the influences of the church, especially during its darkest hour of the Inquisitions, they knew the problems that could occur. Look at Britain and the problems relating to the Irish; a conflict between Protestants and Catholics. That is why we do not have a religion established within the framework of our government; so each person can worship as they see fit, within whatever denomination or religion they choose.

  2. ??? on March 14th, 2009 1:55 pm

    Darryl, you might want to check the definition of Christianity. As far as I know, all of the “sects” you mentioned follow the teachings of Christ–perhaps with different doctrines, but Christian nonetheless. Not one particular denomination is exclusive to Christianity.

  3. Susan on March 13th, 2009 11:12 pm

    It took one person to throw prayer out of our schools. We as Christians all need to stand together and fight for our contitutional rights back. Its time we all break the denominational barriers and join together as a body of Christ and take back what the enemy has stolen. I hear all the time about different occurances within different schools about holidays,programs etc. But I have seen the belivers sit back and grumble over what has been taken with no action in return to fight for what we as believers stand for. Praise God, the Jay community is pulling together for prayer for our schools. I know that everyone has different religions, but when the final judgement day comes, and we are standing in heaven, we arent going to be seperated in groups by different religons, we are going to be praising God all together as one body before the throne of God.

  4. Religion(s) on March 13th, 2009 12:06 pm

    In response to Darryl: other religions are more than welcome to have their own meeting of prayer if they would like. No one is saying that they can’t. Just because a group of Christians are praying doesn’t mean that they are being discriminating. NOT allowing a community to gather on a volunteer basis to pray IS discriminating…why should these individuals have to accomodate to other people? That is ridiculous..that is like saying we can’t pray at a restaurant without asking everyone around us whether or not they would be offended. If all the other religions want to rent the field and pray for the students or for anything else they wish, then more power to them. I am sure they wouldn’t invite the Christians to come and pray with them….everyone is free to go if they wish; they aren’t giving a test on Christianity before you can go.

  5. Darryl on March 13th, 2009 9:12 am

    {“We want to encourage these kids to stand in their faith,” said Pastor Mitch Herring of Poplar Dell Baptist Church} and {“We are going to come as Christians, not any denomination, and offer prayer that our students will serve the Lord,” said Pastor Herring.}

    The issue the Jay community will have to address sooner or later in this situation is whether or not they are accommodating other religions. Would they accept someone who is Jewish or Hindu? What about a Diest, which is what some of the founding fathers were? The segments above of Pastor Herring’s comments show it is only Christianity that is being supported and that is where the ACLU will have the foundation of its argument. True religious freedom would be inclusive of any religion, or a non-belief. That is going to be hard for Jay, or any of the communities to accept, but it is the basic principal of the founding fathers in the Consitution when it was established no religion would be established within government to allow true freedom of religion.

    For those who say we should adopt Christianity as our national religion, that would be a violation of the Constitution and brings up another question; which sect? Southern Baptist, Freewill Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, or maybe a newer religious sect such as Mormons????

    Tough questions for an issue that people take on a personal level, but if you stand back and ask is this accommodating of religions other than my own, and would it be accommodating to you if it was done in by a rabbi or leader of another religion? Answer ‘yes’ and then you have maintained the prinicpal of true freedom of religious practice within our Constitution.

    Good luck with the debate.

  6. Ole' Willie on March 13th, 2009 8:24 am

    Way to go and AMEN!

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under Archive