Hundreds Flood School Board Meeting in Support of Appeal of Court Order to End Prayer Practice
ICC Note: As previously reported, in 2014 the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed a lawsuit against California’s Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education on account of their practice of praying before meetings. The court eventually ordered the school district to cease this prayer practice. On Monday, the board met to select a legal firm to represent them as they file an appeal against the decision. Hundreds of community members gathered in support, holding signs that said, “Pray!”
By Heather Clark
03/10/2016 United States (Christian News Network) – Hundreds cheered as a California school board voted on Monday on which law firm they would hire to represent them in an appeal against an atheist lawsuit that resulted in a court order that the board stop praying before meetings and speaking about Christianity in their remarks.
As previously reported, in November 2014, the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed a 49-page lawsuit against the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education. The organization took issue with the board’s practice of opening meetings with invocations, which they argued is a violation of the First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.
“The Chino Valley School Board begins each meeting with a prayer,” FFRF wrote in its legal challenge. “Indeed the meetings resemble a church service more than a school board meeting, complete with Bible readings by the board members, Bible quotations by board members, and other statements by board members promoting the Christian religion.”
The Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a non-profit organization committed to defending religious freedom, stood with the Chino school board and defended the prayers in court. PJI President Brad Dacus said “some of the board members are very committed to their faith” and argued that their religious freedoms were protected by law.
“In a free society we can’t have freedom from religion but freedom of religion, and that’s what this lawsuit’s all about,” Dacus told One News Now.
But last month, U.S. District Court Judge Jesus Bernal, appointed to the bench by Barack Obama, sided with FFRF, saying the prayers at the school board meetings “constitute unconstitutional government endorsements of religion.”