July 19, 2010 2:41 PM
Prayer outside Supreme Court banned?
Cops: Kids can't pray at U.S. Supreme Court
July 16, 2010A Christian private-school teacher is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to allow constitutionally protected prayer outside the court building after her class was "abruptly" ordered to stop praying on the grounds.
Maureen Rigo, a teacher at Wickenburg Christian Academy in Arizona, took her class to the Supreme Court complex May 5 for an educational tour.
The students stood off to the side at the bottom steps of the Oval Plaza, bowed their heads and quietly prayed amongst themselves, according to the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal team Rigo contacted after the incident.
"Even though they were not obstructing traffic, not demonstrating and praying quietly in a conversational tone so as to not attract attention, a court police officer approached the group and told them to stop praying in that public area immediately," ADF reported. "The prayer was stopped based on a statute, 40 U.S.C. §6135, which bars parades and processions on Supreme Court grounds."
That statute reads as follows:
It is unlawful to parade, stand, or move in processions or assemblages in the Supreme Court Building or grounds, or to display in the Building and grounds a flag, banner, or device designed or adapted to bring into public notice a party, organization, or movement.
According to the Sonoran News, the police tapped Rigo on the shoulder and said, "Ma'am, I'm not going to tell you that you can't pray, but you can't do it here. Please go somewhere else."A message left by WND at Wickenburg Christian Academy hadn't been returned at the time of this report.
ADF sent a letter to U.S. Supreme Court officials today, imploring them to stop their police officers from barring people from quietly praying outside the court.
Read more at Ohio Free Press (Propaganda Press apparently not interested in the story)
Posted in Christian Persecution, First Amendment, Obama Nation, Supreme Court | Permalink
Comments
That is ridiculous. Has this always been the case or is it a new development?
Posted by: cath young | July 19, 2010 3:30 PM
I'd like to know if this is a new thing, too. I'd love to see priests there praying prayers of exorcism. Can you imagine the hullabaloo that would cause?
Posted by: Sue from Buffalo | July 19, 2010 5:08 PM
The problem here is simple ... the slippery slope. If the class is allowed to stand and pray, then the pro-lifers must be allowed to stand and pray, and the anti-lifers must be allowed to stand and pray, and the pro-gay-marriage crowd, and the slavery reparations crowd, and the militant Muslims, and so on.
There is no realistic way to differentiate, so the police must be consistent. Stand and pray long enough to get noticed, get told to move on. The story also doesn't say how long they were there, but I imagine it was longer than the 30 seconds or so to bang out an Our Father.
Posted by: Tom J | July 19, 2010 5:56 PM
Actually, the term slippery slope refers to a moral decline - as in legalizing abortions in the firt trimester leading eventually to abortion on demand and mothers killing their babies.
So it's not a slippery slope to say if one group of people can pray, then all groups of people can pray. And actually, under our current constitution, all groups of people can pray there and anywhere else they choose.
This is what makes this news - that no one has been cleared from the steps of the Supreme court for praying before now.
Posted by: Barbara | July 19, 2010 6:00 PM
It has always been that way. You can protest, pray and do anything else you want on the sidewalk of the Court but not on the steps or plaza. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law about 11 years ago.
Posted by: Tina | July 19, 2010 6:11 PM
Tina -
would you please give us a reference for this?
Posted by: Barbara | July 19, 2010 6:28 PM
Here is a case from 2005.
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/dc-court-of-appeals/1153316.html
There is an earlier case but my searching skills can't seem to find it today!
Posted by: Tina | July 20, 2010 3:04 PM
