The Lord’s Prayer broke out during a Virginia public school board meeting last month after the board chair told a woman that her offer to publicly pray for students was “not permitted.”
What are the details?
A woman addressed the Suffolk school board during the public comment portion of the Aug. 10 meeting and told the board she wanted to use her time at the microphone to “pray for Suffolk Public Schools with all of you.”
As she asked those in the room to bow their heads and offered apologies to “anybody [who] objects,” Board Chair Tyron Riddick interjected, “Excuse me, we can’t do that.”
“Why can’t we?” the woman asked Riddick. “I’d like to pray for our students in our school.”
Riddick replied that prayer wasn’t what she “signed up to do” and asked her to “get back on to your topic.”
“That is my topic sir,” the woman told Riddick.
“Well, then, it’s not permitted at this time,” Riddick responded.
“To pray for our schools is not permitted?” she asked.
“That’s correct,” Riddick answered again.
With that, the woman invited those in attendance to join her in prayer outside the building after the board meeting, adding that “I think … the only way that we’re gonna come together is through God and our faith.” She also asked God to place those “working for children” in the district “for any other reason … under conviction.”
As the woman walked away from the microphone, Riddick told the gathered crowd, “I do want to clarify, I don’t object to prayer. I believe that man should always pray. I mean, I love prayer, but this is not the place per the law.”
As Riddick asked an attorney present to address the issue, a number of people in attendance stood up and began reciting the Lord’s Prayer.
Riddick responded by calling for a meeting recess and banging his gavel, after which it appeared another board member told him to “ask the officers to remove” those who were praying.
He then told police officers to “clear the room” during the recess, and a pair of officers were seen approaching the front of the public area of the meeting room:
The prayer was completed, and it isn’t clear whether anyone was removed from the room. After the video cut off for a short period of time, Riddick reappeared on camera and addressed the crowd again.
Read more at: theblaze.com