URGENT PETITION! Pass S.Res.18 allowing optional PRAYER AT PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS, and add F.D.R.’s D-Day Prayer to the W.W.II Memorial in DC, by passing H.R. 2070, and H.R. 2848 the VETERANS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ACT. Please select, sign, and WE WILL FAX your petition to all 535 members of Congress.
Atheists try to ban Student-led prayer at Florida School Flagpole
The Sunshine State of Florida hosts more than one debate this month, not only for Tuesday’s GOP primary election, but also a hot battle on prayer in school.
The Clay County Fla. School District will host a workshop in late February to discuss whether to allow student-initiated prayer around the flag pole, and let teachers or citizens pray on public sidewalks too. School Board member Charlie Van Zant told The Christian Post that the School Board was talking with law firms about whether to allow students to participate in optional prayer in classrooms as well.
In November an atheist group, The Freedom From Religion Foundation, complained that a local Baptist Pastor Ron Baker dared to join students for prayer at the flag pole, which he had done for 12 years without opposition.
The FFRF’s letter to school authorities complained that prayer was “grossly inappropriate for principles, teachers, other public school employees, or outside adults to actively participate in or promote student-run religious organizations and activities.”
But the president of Biblical Ministries, Dr. Raymond Johnson, responded that “Baker had been praying there for years, with no problem.” Apparently prayer is no problem for Florida kids, parents, teachers, or pastors, but the Wisconsin-based FFRF got offended from 1,400+ miles away.
In a letter to school Superintendent Ben Worthman, the Christian lawfirm Liberty Counsel stated that FFRF is ignoring the rights of the individuals partaking in school prayer: Students and adults alike “have First Amendment rights, and all staff and teachers may exercise them when they are not ‘on the clock’ or otherwise acting in their official capacity as representatives of the school district,” they wrote.
We need to take a stand, not just for kids religious freedom, but also for teachers, coaches, pastors, community leaders, and Mom and Dad, to preserve their legal right to pray everywhere, starting at school board meetings.
Let’s petition 100 Senators to pass S. Res 18 encouraging optional public prayer at school board meetings across the nation. (And keep up the pressure for Veteran’s rights and the FDR memorial, with all three items in the same petition…)
SELECT HERE to sign URGENT PETITION to pass S.RES.18 for PRAYER AT SCHOOL MEETINGS, and ADD F.D.R.’S PRAYER to the W.W.II Memorial in DC, and DEFEND PUBLIC PRAYER with H.R. 2848 the VETERANS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ACT, and we will fax 535 Congressmen/Senators instantly (saving you time!)
Congress voted Tuesday to add FDR’s Prayer to WWII memorial. Senate votes next!
Our dear friend Chris Long at Ohio Christian Alliance has alerted us to a BIG VOTE IN CONGRESS last week (Tuesday) on whether President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s D-Day prayer should be engraved in the World War II memorial. The House passed the bill by a voice vote, so now the U.S. Senate must take action.
Call your Rep and both Senators at 202-225-3121 today, and say “Vote Yes on H.R. 2070, for the FDR prayer to be engraved at the World War II memorial.” Then please sign our urgent petition and we will fax all 535 members of the House and Senate.
The Committee on Natural Resources voted in favor and sent to the floor for full House vote on the “World War II Memorial Prayer Act of 2011” (H.R. 2070), over the objections of the Obama Administration.
The Obama Administration has promoted all the lies they can think of to stop this prayer display. First Obama’s people claimed the prayer would violate the Commemorative Act, but Republicans quickly attached an amendment stating the prayer display does not break any such laws.
Next the White House claimed it would be to costly to honor our WWII veterans wishes. (President Obama has no problem spending trillions on socialized medicine and abortion funding, but cannot bear a few thousand dollars to simply engrave FDR’s historic prayer words in concrete.) So Republicans countered by amending the bill to require non-federal funds be used to hire the engraver, costing ZERO dollars to taxpayers.
Finally Obama’s people said it would be “offensive” to veterans, but real veterans overwhelmingly support adding FDR’s historic prayer. Many veterans groups have endorsed the idea. Only atheist complainers (not veterans) oppose free religious speech.
FDR publicly called on “Almighty God” for strength as American troops fought valiantly to save the world from Nazi tyranny. Chris Long stated, “President Roosevelt’s prayer articulated the great crusade that was underway to liberate millions suffering under tyranny.”
FDR prayed that God give the allied troops courage and faith, saying, “With thy blessing we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy.” You can watch and listen to F.D.R’s prayer here, in another unforgettable 2-minute video.
Let’s remind Congress (and Obama) that Almighty God helped America defeat tyranny, and God must be honored today, just like FDR honored God on D-Day back then.
FDR’s family wants Prayer Bill to pass Congress. They need our help!
The bill that will add an inscription of the prayer spoken by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) on D-Day to the World War II Memorial on the National Mall has passed out of committee by unanimous consent and is waiting for a full floor vote in the House of Representatives. But FDR’s prayer still faces an uphill battle, and we must act now!
Sadly, the Obama administration opposes honoring prayer, even by a former Democrat President in FDR. The Bureau of Land Management a division of the Department of the Interior Director Robert Abby told the House Committee “the Interior Department opposes its inclusion because it would intrude on the WWII Monument.” Really? President Obama thinks historic prayer speech is an “intrusion” and should be banned?
More sadly, the Obama Administration is trying to argue H.R. 2070 would create a separate memorial commemorating FDR’s prayer. THIS IS A LIE! The bill simply adds the prayer words, to be etched in stone in a blank spot on the existing memorial. It does not create special memorial for a prayer, or cost any more than a simple engraving. Not surprisingly, Obama personally forgot to thank God for His blessings during his Thanksgiving speech, remarking instead how “lucky” we are as a nation.
While this bill has a very good chance to pass the House, it faces trouble in Harry Reid’s liberal anti-Christian Senate. It’s here in the Senate that Obama’s lie about a separate memorial will be used to shoot this bill down or to block it from even getting a vote on the Senate floor. This historic prayer by FDR was offered to God (watch 2-minute video) at one of the defining moments of the greatest generation and in U.S. history. Any monument to victory should honor God as the source of that victory, out of respect for the faith of those who fought WWII, a generation not afraid to bend a knee and pray. President Obama yet again seeks to alter history to fit his socialist, homosexual, humanist, anti-Jesus agenda, and erase God from history!
I got an email this week from FDR’s relatives, saying: “The family descendants of Franklin DELANO Roosevelt ..namely the DELANO family of Western NY and California along with the DELANO kindred DEMAND the prayer be on our family memorial! We are a family of faith filled patriots to this CHRISTIAN country! In fact I recommend you contact the DELANO family and kindred to protest and write the president and congress on this matter. I will contact Congressman Higgins, but don’t count on ANY help from him or for that matter ANY NY elected official. They are all far left. –Cheryl DELANO”
Thank you Cheryl Delano, and thanks to your family for helping us honor FDR’s prayer. Everybody please help me join Cheryl’s effort to add FDR’s prayer to the WWII memorial!
Obama says “No” to prayer by F.D.R. on D-Day Memorial. Take action!
We have a new opportunity to petition Congress to PASS H.R. 2070 when they vote very soon, whether to add the prayer said by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as an inscription on the World War II memorial on the national mall in Washington DC.
On D-Day, 6 June 1944, F.D.R. said a prayer on national radio, that addressed “Almighty God” and requested God’s blessing on our troops and victory in battle. God answered that prayer, but now the Obama Administration would rather that prayer be forgotten, when we have a chance to etch that prayer in stone forever.
Congress will reportedly vote this week on H.R. 2070 whether to add that prayer, etched in stone on the W.W.II memorial, but last month the Obama Administration recommended “NO” to the prayer, saying “altering the Memorial in this way, as proposed in HR 2070, will necessarily dilute this elegant memorial’s central message.”
Say what? How can President Roosevelt’s solemn prayer dilute the message of religious freedom? Let’s demand Congress honor “Almighty God” by adding prayer to the memorial.
Atheists Bully Pastor to Stop “See You At The Pole” School Prayers
The pastor of a church in Florida moved his weekly morning prayers away from a public school flagpole after 11 years of prayer this week, because atheist complainers and a school board lawyer threatened legal action to stop his religious expression.
The Florida Baptist Witness blog reports: “Pastor Ron Baker has agreed to move prayer meetings previously held at school flagpoles to adjacent properties in an ‘amicable resolution’ with the Clay County School Board late in the day on Nov. 10.
“Baker, pastor of Russell Baptist Church in Green Cove Springs, agreed to move the prayer times after the School Board’s attorney indicated he would use any means necessary to remove the pastor from school properties if the prayers continued.
“‘I don’t want to make the flagpole like an Alamo, the last battle over some piece of territory,’ Baker told Florida Baptist Witness in a Nov. 11 interview. ‘My desire is only that we can have an opportunity to pray for the school and the students, the faculty, staff – to pray for those folks each morning.'”
Atheist complainers are gloating in victory, having moved the prayers off school grounds.
“‘It’s great to see reason prevail,’ said Anne Gaylor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. ‘I’m so pleased with the response from the school district at this point, treating [Baker] as a public nuisance. This is proper.’
“Gaylor called Baker’s desire to continue the prayers at adjacent properties ‘predatory.’
“‘There’s still just something wrong with this picture,’ she said. ‘There’s some sense of exhibitionism, adults picking on very small children. They should pick on someone their own size.'”
[Question: Do atheists now claim praying on public property is child abuse?]
“Asked about Gaylor’s comments, Baker told the Witness that he is widely known in the community – where he has pastored for 30 years – and there has never been a complaint during the 11 years he has been leading the prayer gatherings.”
Bottom Line: If we don’t protect teachers, students, parents, and pastors right to free religious expression, and cave in to groups like FFRF and ACLU, before long moms and dads will be jailed for praying in public. Make no mistake, their objective is to eliminate God from every aspect of our public lives. Give the Devil an inch and he’ll take a mile.
Let’s support Jesus and Prayer in School by telling all 100 Senators and 435 Congressmen to pass S. Res. 18 and defend prayer at public school board meetings. If we do not stand up for our Constitutional rights we will lose them forever.
God banned from Veterans Cemeteries, Hospitals, Schools. Take action!
Freedom of speech to pray publicly “in Jesus name” faces new attacks across America, as the Obama Administration has now fully caved-in to atheist complainers, and helped ban free religious speech from schools to the grave, for teachers and military veterans.
But two new bills before Congress and the Senate could restore religious freedom for Veterans and Teachers, protecting freedom of speech and public prayer rights that generations of Americans have died fighting to protect. They are House Bill H.R. 2848, the “Veterans Religious Freedom Act,” and Senate Bill S.Res.18, a resolution supporting optional public prayer at school board meetings nationwide. Our new petition campaign supports these two important bills.
Recently Veterans Affairs (V.A.) Director Arleen Ocasio was rebuked by a federal judge after she outlawed prayers mentioning “Jesus” or “God” form the National Cemetery in Houston TX. Director Ocasio and the Obama Administration reportedly censored and banned any reference to Jesus or God in prayers, cards, and even casual conversation on V.A. Cemetery grounds, public land. She even turned the Chapel into a storage room!
Ocasio tried to stop heroic Pastor Scott Rainey from praying “in Jesus name,” but he won an emergency court-order stopping the V.A. and restoring his free speech rights. Federal Judge Lynn Hughes ordered the V.A. and Arleen Ocasio, director of the Houston National Cemetery, to stop censoring the pastor’s right to pray “in Jesus name,” since the Obama Administration violated the First Amendment. Judge Hughes wrote: “The government cannot gag citizens when it says it is in the interest of national security, and it cannot do it in some bureaucrat’s notion of cultural homogeneity. The right to free expression ranges from the dignity of Abraham Lincoln’s speeches to Charlie Sheen’s rants.”
Outraged, several pro-faith Republican Congressmen led by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) have drafted and sponsored the Veteran’s Religious Freedom Act. “It is the constitutional duty of the federal government to protect speech and religion, not prohibit it. Government censorship of funeral services for our veterans is unacceptable, unconstitutional and un-American,” said Congressman Poe. “The policy of the director of the Houston VA Cemetery is anti-Christian, anti-religion and anti-veteran. What has reportedly taken place at the Houston VA Cemetery is inexcusable, and Congress must take immediate action to protect the rights of those who have fought and died for our country.”
This important Veterans Religious Freedom Act, H.R. 2848, provides the Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not:
1) prescribe regulations to censor or otherwise limit the type of religious speech that may be performed by a member of a veterans service organization at the funeral or memorial service of a veteran; or
2) censor or otherwise limit type of religious speech of a private speakers who have been invited to speak on property of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
This bill would force Obama’s Director Ocasio to allow free speech honoring Jesus Christ by family members, invited speakers, pastors, and veterans groups at the graves, not only in Houston but all Veterans cemeteries and hospitals nationwide! Let’s take action now…
Public School Board Meetings also attacked for allowing public prayer by teachers
It’s not just at the grave where public prayer is being attacked. S.Res.18 calls for the Senate to recognize that prayer before school board meetings is a protected act in accordance with the fundamental principles upon which the Nation was founded, and expresses support for allowing the optional practice of prayer at the beginning of the school board meetings. Senator David Vitter (R- LA) first introduced this bill in 2005 but it has been blocked by Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and lobbyist lawyers from the ACLU. The ACLU has bullied school boards over prayer for decades, with empty threats and bogus lawsuits, often lost but sometimes won by liberal activist judges who hate religious freedom of speech. The time has come to pass S.Res.18 and give conservatives judges the power to support prayer and fight the ACLU.
The ACLU has backed lawsuits against school boards, and criticized us who support school board prayer. Senator Vitter said: “I do not share the ACLU’s opinion, and more importantly, the people of Louisiana do not share the ACLU’s opinion.” Neither does the Supreme Court. In 1983, the U.S. Supreme Court held, in the case of Marsh v. Chambers, that the practice of opening legislative sessions with prayer has become part of the fabric of our society, and is fully constitutional. “To invoke divine guidance on a public body entrusted with making the laws is not a violation of the Establishment Clause,” wrote the Supreme Court, “but rather is simply an acknowledgement of beliefs widely held among the American people.”
Sadly, even with the court’s ruling defending prayer, the ACLU has not given up attempts to silence prayer in our schools. With President Obama appointing more and more ungodly, anti-Christian, socialist judges to federal benches, we must encourage our Senators and Congressmen to pass a law protecting what is left of Jesus in public schools: the freedom to speak Jesus’ name in public prayer! Our teachers deserve that freedom, and so do our children deserve God’s blessing. Let’s take action…
Friends, our veterans and teachers deserve the same religious freedom they defend for others. Let’s take a stand today, and demand Congress pass both prayer bills, now!
God Bless you, in Jesus’ name,
Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt
For interviews, speaking invites, select here.
P.S. Time is urgent! Both House and Senate have full schedules this fall, so unless we raise their awareness of these two important prayer bills, they may not get the attention they deserve. So please sign our petition today! Prefer to donate by mail? Please mail paper check or money orders to: The Pray In Jesus Name Project, PO Box 77077, Colorado Springs, CO 80970.
SELECT HERE to sign URGENT PETITION to ADD F.D.R.’S PRAYER to the W.W.II Memorial in DC, and DEFEND PUBLIC PRAYER with H.R. 2848 the VETERANS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ACT and S.RES.18 for PRAYER AT SCHOOL MEETINGS, and we will fax 535 Congressmen/Senators instantly (saving you time!)
Disclaimer: The views of Chaplain Klingenschmitt, who was vindicated by Congress after being honorably but involuntarily discharged from the Navy in 2007 after facing court-martial for praying “in Jesus name” in uniform, are his own personal views, not the views of any political party, government, or organization.
