Supreme Court Security Officer Allegedly Told High School Students to Stop Praying in Front of Court

Was the first amendment repealed, while I slept last night? Did they take out the freedom of religion and the free exercise thereof clause out of the amendment?

A Supreme Court security officer allegedly told students to stop praying in front of the Supreme Court because it’s illegal. They had to move to the “gutter” in order to finish their prayer:

A group of Christian students was allegedly ordered to stop praying outside the U.S. Supreme Court building on May 5 because a court police officer told them it was against the law.

The students were part of a junior high school American History class at Wickenburg Christian Academy in Arizona. After taking pictures on the steps of the Supreme Court building, their teacher gathered them to a side location where they formed a circle and began to pray.

According to Nate Kellum, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, a police officer “abruptly” interrupted the prayer and ordered the group to cease and desist.
“They were told to stop praying because they were violating the law and they had to take their prayer elsewhere,” Kellum told FOX News Radio.

Here is the response from the Marshal of the (Supreme) Court’s spokesperson regarding the allegation:

The Alliance Defense Fund sent a letter to the Supreme Court urging them to stop their police officers from banning prayers.

A spokesperson for the Court said the Marshal of the Court will look into the events alleged by the ADF.

“The Court does not have a policy prohibiting prayer,” said public information officer Kathy Arberg in an email to FOX News Radio.

“The Court’s policy regarding the use of most public areas at the Court has been to permit activity related to the business of the Court, including traditional tourist activity and ingress and egress for visitors, but not to permit demonstrations and other types of activity that may tend to draw a crowd or onlookers,” she said. “In addition, under 40 U.S.C. section 6135, it is unlawful to parade, stand or move in processions or assemblages in the building and grounds, including the plaza and steps, but not including the perimeter sidewalks.”

But Kellum said the 15 students and seven adults did not constitute a parade.

“From what we gather, the police officer at the Supreme Court building determined that because they were bowing their heads, they were bringing notice to their Christianity which they considered a movement and thus violating this federal statute,” he said.

That is some jump that the cop made.

Tulsa: Evengelical Youth Outreach Group Banned From Publically Funded Housing

First, there was San Diego. Now, there is another instance of religious persecution against Christians.

A Christian evangelical group that works to improve the lives of underprivileged children says it has been prohibited from conducting Bible study classes in public housing projects in Tulsa, Okla., potentially violating a Supreme Court ruling that upheld religious groups' right to the use of public institutions.

For more than 70 years, the Missouri-based Child Evangelism Fellowship has worked with underprivileged kids, not only to convert them to Christianity, but to improve their lives through education and after-school activities. In one program, fellowship missionaries visit prisons and sign up inmates' children for Bible study programs in an effort to keep them from winding up in jail themselves.

And for more than two decades, the fellowship has hosted a religious-themed summer program in Tulsa's tough housing projects, designed to keep children from falling victim to the temptations of drugs and crime.

But recently, the fellowship was told that it was in violation of a long-standing policy prohibiting religious instruction on public housing property, said Larry Koehn, who heads the organization's chapter in the city.

This policy is just as unconstitutional as the statute in San Diego that county officials used to try and stop a pastor and his wife's home Bible study. In the case of San Diege, they quickly backed down and won't be fining the pastor and his wife for their home Bible studies.

In Tulsa, they are looking to violate the groups Constitutional rights of religious expression, assembly, and free speech. This is not the first time that they had their rights trampled on by the city:

"Last fall, one of our schools said we couldn't hold a club after school for the same reasons," Larry Koehn, a group leader, said. "I contacted the Liberty Counsel and they wrote a letter to the school board explaining equal access, and they let us in."

Now, they are preparing for a lawsuit against the housing authority to fight for their rights. A lawyer with experiece in religious cases has been retained.

Past precident is on the side of the evangelical group. The Supreme Court said in 2001 that religious groups should have equal access to public building as any other group.

This is also an assualt on the poor who are mostly minorities as they are the people who are the most likely to live in such housing. So, they are they taking rights away of the evangelical group but the poor people that livr there as well.

I will stay on top of this story.