LC.org

Washington, DC – Last Friday prior to Kim Davis being presented with the “Cost of Discipleship” award at the Values Voter Summit, Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, spoke for 8 to 10 minutes and flashed a photograph of a large Christian gathering in a Peruvian soccer field.

Julio Rosas, a member of the Peruvian Congress, met personally with Mat Staver and Kim Davis the day prior to the award, explained the prayer meeting, and presented the photograph. The decision to add the photograph to the speech was made at the last minute. When some questioned whether such a large event occurred, Liberty Counsel sought verification this past Saturday and yesterday. It now appears that while prayer meetings did occur throughout Peru, the photograph presented to Mat Staver was an honest mistake and was of a different Christian assembly in a soccer field.

On September 6, the day prior to Labor Day, while Kim Davis was in jail, Congressman Rosas was part of the call for the prayer meeting that occurred the following Sunday, September 13, the day prior to Kim’s return to work on September 14. Congressman Rosas left for the U.S. on September 10 to attend meetings in Washington, D.C., so he was not at the event.

Congressman Rosas has been a member of Congress since 2011. He has personally helped organize and has participated in many Christian and pro-life, pro-family rallies or assemblies in which between 70,000 to 100,000 Christians filled soccer stadiums or several hundred thousand people marched in Lima. Mat Staver personally attended one such Christian prayer meeting in Lima in 2013, and there are many photographs of the marches in Lima and around Peru for life and marriage. When Mat Staver was presented with the photograph of the prayer meeting in the soccer stadium, it did not appear unusual because such large Christian gatherings happen much more frequently in Peru.

While people in Peru did pray on September 13, we have now learned that the photograph was not of the prayer meeting.

“We have no reason to puff the Kim Davis story. Her name has become known around the world. The people in Peru were very much aware of Kim Davis because her story was broadcast on a variety of media. However, the photograph was an honest mistake,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “Make no mistake, however, that there is widespread support for Kim Davis. Last week she was recognized by many people as she walked through the Philadelphia, New York LaGuardia, and Washington, D.C. Reagan airports. People gave her a thumbs up sign or verbally expressed support for Kim Davis. While she has obvious detractors, Kim Davis also has wide support,” concluded Staver.

Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.

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