60,000 Pray In Times Square – Media Doesn’t Cover It

You can see most anything at Times Square in Manhattan. But 60,000 people praying? That’s an unusual site in the heart of Broadway. Yet, that’s just what happened there yesterday for one hour – from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in a Christian rally called Prayer in the Square. Event organizers from Time Square Church had expected some 15,000. But their expectations were far exceeded at the third event of its kind in the last three years.

Despite the magnitude of the event, no major media covered it – even in the center of the media world on a slow news day.

More than 200 churches joined with the Times Square Church in promoting the rally to pray for the city and the nation.

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Principal, Athletic Director Face Jail for Prayer Before Lunch

A principal and an athletic director in Florida could be charged with crimes and spend six months in jail after they prayed before a meal at a school event, the Washington Times reported. Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and athletic director Robert Freeman will go on trial in federal district court Sept. 17. They’re accused of violating the conditions of a lawsuit settlement reached last year with the American Civil Liberties Union, according to the Times.

Local pastors and some students and teachers are outraged that Lay and Freeman face criminal charges, and they have protested during graduation ceremonies, the newspaper said.

“I have been defending religious freedom issues for 22 years, and I’ve never had to defend somebody who has been charged criminally for praying,” said Mathew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, the Christian-based legal group that is defending the two school officials.

But an ACLU official said the Santa Rosa County School District has been guilty of “flagrant” First Amendment violations for years, the Times reported.

“The defendants all admitted wrongdoing,” said Daniel Mach, ACLU’s director of litigation for its freedom of religion program. “For example, the Pace High School teachers handbook asks teachers to ‘embrace every opportunity to inculcate, by precept and example, the practice of every Christian virtue.’”

The case stems from a Jan. 28 incident in which Lay, a local Baptist church deacon, asked Freeman to offer mealtime prayers at a lunch for school employees. Staver said no students were there and the event took place on school property after hours.

Mach countered that the event was held during the school day and Lay has admitted in writing that there were students present, according to the newspaper.

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Study – Prayer Leads to Good Health

Meditation and prayer can improve your physical, intellectual, and emotional well-being and may even slow the brain’s aging process, according to a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania.

Writing in his new book, “How God Changes Your Brain,” Andrew Newberg, reports the results of brain scans that he and his team conducted on more than 100 meditating or praying people.

Newberg, director of the Center for Spirituality and the Mind, says his research shows that the physical and emotional benefits of spiritual observances dramatically accrue over years of practice, but even recent converts exhibit healthier brains, according to the San Francisco Chronicles David Ian Miller.

In one of Newbergs studies his team did brain scans on people who had never meditated before and went on to teach them simple meditative methods, Miller writes. After a mere eight weeks of just 12 minutes a day of meditation, there was a considerable improvement in memory scores and a measurable decrease in anxiety and anger.

Newberg told Miller, “A lot of the new research that we’ve been doing shows that when people engage in religious or spiritual activities and practices, or they have religious experiences, by and large they tend to have a positive impact on a person’s mental health and wellbeing. That helps them accomplish their goals, to set a path for themselves, and therefore helps them survive. At the same time, religion and spiritual pursuits help us change and grow over time by giving us a model for transforming ourselves. Ultimately, they’re our way of asking ourselves to follow the ideals of what we think a good human being should be”.

Newbergs study echoes a 1999 study, “Scientific Research of Prayer: Can the Power of Prayer Be Proven?” by researcher Debra Williams

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Conservative Groups Declare Stimulus Bill a War on Prayer

Democrats in Congress have declared war on prayer, say conservative groups who object to a provision in the stimulus bill that was passed by the House of Representatives last week.

The provision bans money designated for school renovation from being spent on facilities that allow “religious worship.” It has ignited a fury among critics who say it violates the First Amendment and is an attempt to prevent religious practice in schools.

According to the bill, which the Democratic-controlled House passed despite unanimous Republican opposition, funds are prohibited from being used for the “modernization, renovation, or repair” of facilities that allow “sectarian instruction, religious worship or a school or department of divinity.”

Critics say that could include public schools that permit religious groups to meet on campus. The House provided $20 billion for the infrastructure improvements, of which $6 billion would go to higher education facilities where the limitations would be applied.

“What the government is doing is discriminating against religious viewpoints,” said Mathew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that works to advance religious freedom.

“President Obama’s version of faith-based initiatives is to remove the faith from initiative,” said Staver, who believes Obama has “a completely different view on faith” from what he said during his presidential campaign.

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Christians Gather on Capitol Hill to Fast, Pray

Christians are gathering on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to fast and pray all week.

Leaders say they are humbly calling upon God in a time when our country needs it the most.

With the upcoming presidential election and the recent financial problems, these believers are asking for God’s mercy and divine direction.

“God is really our only hope,” said Katie Mahoney.

“Now is the time to pray that the right leaders will come,” explained Nathan Rummage.

The non-partisan prayer group also placed a 16-foot cross on the west lawn of the Capitol building.

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