'We want prayer back in our schools': Santa Rosa County students putting Our Father into Friday night football

Some Santa Rosa County high school students are determined to keep Christianity in their schools and have asked residents to join them in public prayer at Friday night football games.

The recitations of the Lord’s Prayer began at the beginning of the school year and have only gained momentum since Sept. 18, one day after a federal judge found two Pace High School educators not guilty of violating an order forbidding the promotion of religion in schools.

“We want prayer back in our schools. They shouldn’t have the right to take that away from us,” said Milton High School senior Chaz Riley. “Let’s go back and make it so teachers can pray and students can pray and no one gets in trouble with it.”

A plan put to action

Jay High School students gave out cards with the Lord’s Prayer printed on them before their Sept. 18 game against Freeport High School.

Students planned the prayer well in advance, going so far as to contact local businesses for financial help to get the cards printed, said parent Lori Barbham.

Local reporters then observed students passing out cards at the entrances to the stadium.

Barbham said each card instructed the crowd to begin praying at 6:50 p.m., 10 minutes before the game — after the coin toss but before the players’ entrance.

“Our father, which art in Heaven …” a few voices began. More people followed suit and it appeared that most of the crowd had joined the prayer.

Later, during one of the quarters, the public announcer said the prayer hadn’t been planned by school officials and was not endorsed by them.

“This certainly is not organized by the school,” Superintendent of Schools Tim Wyrosdick said when he was asked about the incident later. “These are citizens who assembled themselves together and they decided to have a prayer.”

The same night as the Jay game — and one day after hundreds of people gathered outside the federal courthouse in Pensacola to support of Pace High School Principal Robert Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman during their trial — a crowd at Pace’s game also recited the Lord’s Prayer.

An announcement at the end of game also stated the prayer was not sponsored by the school. Lay said the school will not take further action one way or the other.

“There’s nothing to do; I’m not in charge of that,” Lay said. “That’s something they are doing of their own volition — they’re exercising their First Amendment right of free speech.”

The prayers didn’t stop

Last Friday, people recited the prayer at the Pace and Milton games.

Milton Principal Michael Thorpe was walking down the sideline when he heard the prayer.

During halftime, Thorpe announced that the prayer was not organized by the school and was not endorsed by the school.

“It’s not part of the program at all, not in any form or fashion,” said Thorpe, who became Milton’s principal in July.

Thorpe added that he will not stop the prayers unless they become disruptive, but will make the disclaimer announcement each time a prayer is said.

Friday night was neither the first nor last time Milton students led the Lord’s Prayer at a football game.

At the first home game of the year, Chaz Riley, the student body president, stood up with an electronic bullhorn and started the prayer.

“When I start, I am always a little nervous, but once I start, I can feel that I have people backing me up,” he said. “I think I’m doing something good.”

Riley stopped using the bullhorn after school officials told him he couldn’t, but he hasn’t stopped leading the prayer. At 7:20 p.m. students step out with signs asking the crowd to stand for the Lord’s Prayer and Riley begins it.

“I heard no one, ever, complaining that it’s getting said,” said Riley’s father, Chuck. “I looked around to see who all was standing, and every person I could see was standing and (had) removed their hat … and joined in.”

As to the future, Chuck Riley said he expects his son to continue to lead prayers at the games “as long as we’re given the freedom of speech.”

“Young people are standing up for Christ. It’s not meant to be ugly or anything,” Chuck Riley said. “It’s very troubling that a select few are trying to dictate to a majority.”

Prayer put on trial

Prayer became a contentious issue in Santa Rosa County schools in August 2008 when the American Civil Liberties Union sued the school district on behalf of two Pace students and their parents who claimed religion was being forced upon them at school.

By December, the district signed a voluntary consent decree with the ACLU admitting liability. The next month, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction spelling out exactly what Santa Rosa educators couldn’t do, and that included praying.

Ten days after the injunction went into effect, Lay asked Freeman to pray over a meal at the dedication of a new field house at the school during school hours.

When U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers heard about the prayer, she charged the men with criminal contempt. However Rodgers later found them not guilty after a seven-hour trial because it couldn’t be proven they intentionally violated the injunction, she said.

The ACLU, which is charged with ensuring the consent decree is followed, said the facts in this case are especially important.

“We would certainly support the right of students to engage in protected speech, but there is a consent decree that does regulate the conduct of the school district and school officials,” said Randall Marshall, legal director for the ACLU in Florida. “One has to look at what’s going on with what’s the history of Santa Rosa County.”

That history, which prompted the initial lawsuit, creates a gray area about school officials’ involvement, he said. For example, even if school officials don’t plan or organize the prayer, that they have a time period for a prayer to be said may be questionable.

“(For educators to) step aside and accommodate this kind of activity, it obviously raises the question of the degree of school involvement,” Marshall said.

Several factors are key in determining whether school officials are violating the consent order, he said.

For example, if the school or district would also allow students to hand out anti-war propaganda outside football games and then have anti-war chants before the game, or if the public announcer didn’t stop the program while the crowd prayed, then it likely wouldn’t be a violation.

When asked whether the ACLU would look into the situation, Marshall said that if a violation likely occurred, they would raise it with the school district and “consider the facts.”