For Christians, prayer is a sacred thing. It is our way of talking to God. In Florida, however, this holy act has become the subject of a federal lawsuit filed by a Christian school.
The Cambridge Christian School filed the case against the Florida High School Athletic Association for the latter's refusal to publicly broadcast a prayer during a recent football game.
Tim Eueler, the school's headmaster, explained that it has been a tradition to start all activities with prayers, be they meetings or athletic competitions.
"It's second nature to us. We take every opportunity to pray," Eueler said, as quoted by WFLA.com.
That is why it came as a surprise for them when the Florida High School Athletic Association refused to public broadcast a prayer led by the school at a match featuring its football team during the State Championship.
The athletic association reportedly prevented the broadcast of the prayer on the ground that the loudspeakers in the stadium are publicly funded and thus cannot be used by any religion for its activity.
Corey Sobers of the athletic association further said that making the loudspeakers available for the Christian prayer is beyond their control.
"Based on previous court precedent, legally we cannot, we do not have the authority to allow that type of request," Sobers said.
Jermey Dys of the Liberty Institute, who is representing Cambridge Christian, contended however that what happened during the football game was a violation of religious freedom.
"Every single one of their games they had prayed over the loudspeaker over those games. This is the first time they were denied that privilege, the first time in 50 years they were denied that privilege," Dys said.
Eueler, for his part, said he takes offence at the prohibition of their prayer, pointing out that it is "wrong for the government to censor the private speech of private individuals, including when someone wants to pray in public."
