Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman, two employees of Florida Pace High School in Santa Rosa County, face criminal contempt charges. Why? Did they steal, commit violence or curse a judge? No. All they did was offer a blessing before a school-sponsored luncheon attended by adults. For this "crime," Lay and Freeman could be fined, imprisoned for up to six months, and lose their retirement benefits at a trial scheduled for September 17.

The usual suspect, the ACLU, caused this travesty. The ACLU filed a lawsuit in 2008 against the school district to stop and censor religious activity by some of its employees. The ACLU alleged a violation of the non-existent doctrine of separation of church and state. Attorneys for the school district went along with the ACLU, and on January 9, 2009 agreed to an unjustifiably broad order banning any school employee from praying at school-sponsored events, even if outside of school hours and even if attended only by adults. At such events, one adult is even prohibited by the order from expressing his faith to another adult. The court then entered a sweeping anti-religious order that went far beyond what was required to resolve the dispute before it.

When Lay and Freeman allegedly violated this order on January 28 by saying a prayer at an all-adult luncheon, the ACLU alerted the court for possible punishment. District Judge Casey Rodgers recommended initiation of criminal charges against them by a federal prosecutor. In August 2009, the Obama Administration filed such criminal charges against Lay and Freeman, for saying a prayer before eating a meal.

Liberty Counsel, a religious freedom policy and litigation organization, points out that the ACLU is now "go[ing] against individual employees." Glenn Katon, director of the misnamed "Religious Freedom Project" for the ACLU of Florida, absurdly replied, "We're not going after individuals, we're just trying to make sure that school employees comply with the court order." In essence the ACLU's Religious Freedom Project, with its Orwellian title, is persecuting two individuals for saying a prayer.

Stories about the ACLU or the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) suing to censor religious displays or the dissemination of anti-religious materials have become all-too-familiar. If it becomes acceptable to throw someone in prison for offering a non-compulsory prayer before a meal, we are not that far away from people being imprisoned for participating in religious functions in public. Just last May in San Diego, California a Bible study group was told it needed a permit to continue.

The complete suppression of religion in Communist countries did not always happen overnight, but began with propaganda in the schools and official support of atheism by the State. The Obama Administration is taking us down the same path, egged on by the ACLU.

The growing hostility to religion in America is on the verge of putting people in jail, and depriving them of their retirement benefits, simply for leading a group of consenting adults in prayer before eating a meal. How long before Christianity itself becomes a punishable offense?