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In this special Liberty Alert, we want to give you an inside look at this case through the eyes of Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, who was at the hearing. This is a long message, but we hope you will read it to the end.

Santa Rosa decision: “Not Guilty” on all charges!

On Constitution Day, after an all-day hearing, Santa Rosa County, Florida, Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman were cleared of criminal contempt charges that arose from the simple blessing of a meal!

A wave of relief swept over Frank and Robert. When they heard the decision, tears of joy and cheers swept through the throngs of people who had waited outside in the rain for over ten hours.

We are, of course, very pleased and grateful to our God that these fine men – and Clerical Assistant Michelle Winkler in an earlier case – no longer face fines, possible loss of retirement benefits and jail time. But, honestly, that’s about as far as the rejoicing can go. The outrageous court order still hangs over the school system. The ACLU is still soliciting “informants.” And the employees and students of this iconic rural school district remain intimidated and confused about their God-given, inalienable rights as Americans.

I want to assure you – right here and now – that we are far from done with the ACLU in Santa Rosa…or anywhere else they try to pull this kind of outrageous legal manipulation!! Our first order of business will be to get the despicable underlying court order overturned. It’s like a snake in the grass, ready to strike again at the next innocent passerby. And like any other poisonous snake in the grass, it needs its head blown off!

After the long day of trial in Pensacola, it is late in the evening and I am in the Charlotte airport waiting for a connection to Nashville, where I will record a "Fox and Friends" segment about today’s events at 5:20 a.m. From there I fly to Liberty University, where I will speak to 11,000 students about the Constitution.

Later I will fly to Nashville to address the American Association of Christian Counselor’s conference about legal developments impacting their members’ ability to render Christ-centered advice and counsel.

You might think this is peculiar, but as I look back on the day’s events, I must tell you that if I didn’t know that I was actually experiencing them, I might have thought that I was in another dimension watching an over-the-top “B” movie about hypothetical future events. The reality, however, was that the day’s strange occurrences were actually happening! The entire day was completely surreal.

First of all, the facts of the case were ludicrous from the beginning. It is absolutely ridiculous that these distinguished public servants even had to think twice about blessing a meal. Then, how absurd it was that the ACLU was spending Constitution Day trying to deny these life-long educators the most basic tenets of our Nation’s founding document!

When I entered the courthouse, I passed by hundreds of our clients’ friends and neighbors carrying signs, who had begun gathering at dawn in a steady rain to show their support. The Liberty Counsel legal team and our clients were met with swelling rounds of applause as we entered and left the courthouse at various times during the long day’s proceedings. It was very touching and, well, humbling. Emotions ran high.

Chants of, “We came to pray for Lay! We came to pray for Lay,” the Lord’s Prayer, and familiar hymns were at times audible inside the courtroom itself. The Pensacola News Journal noted that the chants were heard many blocks away and also said that by 9:00 a.m., when the hearing started, the scene took on the characteristics of a revival.

The Lord was on the scene! Inside, we were told that busloads of church members, Christian associations, and everyday citizens who wanted to show their support were arriving from throughout the region and emptying into the congested parking areas. Many stayed and prayed all day long!

How then was it possible, in this Nation that was literally born in prayer, that we were listening to the ACLU’s harsh recitation of CRIMINAL charges against two of the community’s most beloved citizens for…praying?

I REALLY thought I was in the Twilight Zone when I entered the courtroom and saw, prominently hanging on the wall, one of the largest reproductions of the famous John Trumbull painting, “Signing of the Declaration,” that I have ever seen. It was large enough to hang in the State Capitol Building! Didn’t everyone in the courtroom know that the Founders spent many, many hours in fervent prayer during the drafting of our Declaration of Independence?

Again I thought, “Can this be happening in America?” Several times during this most peculiar day, I felt I was a player in “the theater of the absurd.” I wondered how I would describe this series of incongruities and contradictions to friends who weren’t there. For instance, after sharing a letter of encouragement to our clients endorsed by over 60 Members of the United States Congress, we were forced to pay rapt attention to the distorted and embarrassingly off-base complaints of our ACLU adversaries. It was just bizarre!

We were all encouraged by the prayers and warm expressions of support that had flooded in from around the Nation.

Perhaps Congressman Randy Forbes of Virginia, Chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, said it best in a News Release: “Today it is the school employees in Santa Rosa County. Tomorrow it could be your kid’s high school coach, your school’s athletic sponsors, or your spouse. If we do not stand up today for our liberties and the right of all Americans to pray according to their faith, our children and grandchildren will have no foundation left on which to pray.”

I wish it weren’t so, but there is still much left to do. We have come to a point of crisis in the history of justice in the United States of America. The super-funded ACLU is completely out of control and, encouraged by massive donations from the likes of billionaire George Soros, is running amok. The ACLU literally mugged this small Florida school system! What outrageous bullies!

And as Congressman Forbes said, it could have just as easily been your school district, your community, and your dedicated public servants. This story has shocked the entire Nation. I cannot emphasize strongly enough what a crucially important case this continues to be. The future of American law and our precious freedom of religious expression still hang in the balance in this small Florida Panhandle community. The ACLU won’t rest until they’ve criminalized Christianity.

The super-rich, ultraliberal ACLU bullies fully intend to add precedent upon precedent in highly targeted cases like Santa Rosa County until it is a CRIME to express one’s faith in a public setting ANYWHERE in the United States.

The original court order cannot stand! The ACLU must not be allowed to win! We have spread the word of the ACLU’s outrageous attempt to criminalize Christianity in America in every way we can. We have appeared on the Fox News Channel, CNN, and scores of other national broadcast outlets, and will continue doing so.

But today, even after our victory on Constitution Day, I need your help in two very important ways:

ACTION ITEM #1: Please continue to pray! As the Pensacola newspaper said, this case is turning into a revival! And the ACLU can’t make headway on their secular, statist agenda when we faithfully pray!

ACTION ITEM #2: Tell your Christian friends about this pivotal battle for the soul of our Nation, and ask them to join you in prayer. Pass this message along!

We simply MUST win the remainder of this case – both for the good people of Santa Rosa County and also for every other school district in America – but it won't be easy. As you know, we're up against the deep-pocketed ACLU that has hundreds of millions of dollars. We’re certainly thanking God that Principal Lay, Athletic Director Freeman, and Clerical Assistant Winkler are “off the hook,” but the snare is still laid in Santa Rosa County.

If you can make a special gift today to help Liberty Counsel attorneys make an end of this ACLU offensive in Santa Rosa County before it hits cities and towns like yours, please do. Call us at 800-671-1776 or make a gift online.

BUT WHATEVER YOU DO, PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR LIBERTY COUNSEL AND THIS CASE! And please forward this message to as many of your like-minded friends, church members, and associates as possible to enlist their prayers! Liberty Counsel attorneys are on the front line of this battle, and we simply can’t succeed without your help.

Thank you for taking the time to read this entire message! We are praising God for our initial victory in the Santa Rosa County case, but everyone knows that if we don’t get the underlying court order thrown out, we’ll soon be back in court defending another group of hapless school system employees who have been victimized.

If we let the ACLU succeed in criminalizing prayer before meals in Santa Rosa County, Florida, we will witness an unprecedented assault across the country in the days and weeks to come. And let’s face it… with Barack Obama in charge of the Justice Department, the ACLU is emboldened and we can expect to see more and more cases like this one, especially if they start gaining momentum.

Your gift right now of $25, $50, $100 – or whatever the Lord leads – will help Liberty Counsel continue to fight in Florida and in communities like yours across the Nation. This war with the ACLU is far from being over – even in Santa Rosa County.

Thanks in advance and may God bless you!

Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

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