10,000 may say prayer in Santa Fe

By KEVIN MORAN

August 30, 2000 Web posted at: 3:10 PM EDT (1910 GMT)

SANTA FE, Texas (The Houston Chronicle) -- As many as 10,000 people may surround this small town's public stadium Friday to "spontaneously" recite the Lord's Prayer before Santa Fe High School's first football game of the season, Christian ministers predicted Tuesday.

No Pray, No Play, a group with headquarters in Temple, had urged people from throughout the state to come to Santa Fe to pray before the game.

Since, the stadium, being used for the first time this year, holds fewer than 5,000 people, others are expected to gather outside to join in the call to prayer, issued in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against student-led prayers over the stadium's public address system.

Those attending, both inside and outside the stadium, are being encouraged to begin praying after the national anthem is played, said the Rev. Eugene Easterly, pastor of Santa Fe's Aldersgate United Methodist Church and president of the Ministerial Alliance of Santa Fe and Hitchcock.

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Easterly, flanked by 10 other area church pastors at the Santa Fe City Hall, said the alliance is encouraging people "to continue their long-standing tradition of public prayer" by attending Friday's game between Santa Fe and neighboring Hitchcock High School and participating in a prayer from the stands.

The Supreme Court ruling in June that banned student-led prayer at games resulted from a 1995 federal lawsuit in which the Santa Fe Independent School District was accused of sponsoring religious activities on public campuses and humiliating at least one Mormon student over religious issues.

School board members and most Santa Fe-area residents have criticized the ruling and decried a court-ordered end to pregame prayer that has gone on for decades in Santa Fe and most other Texas towns.

"The prayer will be spontaneous," Easterly said. "It will not be led by anyone. Prayer has been a part of this (football) experience for a long time here in Santa Fe, and I think it will happen this way."

Easterly said the alliance believes such prayer will not violate the court's ruling and lawyers in the case said as much when the ruling came down.

The prayer, Easterly said, is not meant to offend anyone.

A Web site for No Pray, No Play includes a "warning" to non-Christians, stating, "If you are someone that doesn't like to be exposed to prayer, you may want to show up a little late for the game. We can sympathize with you and understand your frustration. Christians have to turn their heads, close their ears and change their channels to avoid exposure to things we don't like everyday."

T-shirts bearing the No Pray, No Play group's name already were circulating in Santa Fe Tuesday, some bearing the state's outline with, an arrow pointing to Santa Fe and the legend "Don't Mess With God."

Kody Shed, a lay praise and worship leader at Temple's Cornerstone Christian Fellowship, is the group's director. He and Cornerstorne pastor David Newsome traveled to Santa Fe to help organized the prayer effort.

Shed, 27, said No Pray, No Play expects 10,000 people to show up in Santa Fe on Friday night.

He said he is negotiating with Galveston County Fair officials to use the fairgrounds for a rally after the prayer at the football game is concluded.

Santa Fe School District Police Chief Jeff Chernowski and Santa Fe Police Chief Barry Cook said they anticipated some sort of prayer effort at the opening game and have been planning for weeks to handle more people and traffic than on a usual game night.

Cook said anyone who engages in disorderly conduct in or around the stadium could be arrested, but he had not heard of any organized opposition to the prayer plan.

Santa Fe school trustees earlier announced that they did not intend to challenge the Supreme Court ruling by authorizing a student to lead a prayer or similar inspirational statement before the game. Easterly said school officials have not been a part of the planning.

"We've talked to the school board, and we believe we will not be in violation of anything," he said.

Preparatory to Friday's events, the alliance is sponsoring a youth prayer rally at 7 tonight at the Maranatha Christian Center on Avenue L in Santa Fe.

Shed said he has refused interviews with major television networks unless they pay up to $250,000 for his appearance.

"I'm charging $5,000 for telephone interviews," he added, calling his demands "the shakedown."

Echoing a Bible passage, he said "The wealth of the wicked has been stored up for the righteous."

Shed said a representative of CBS' Early Show with Bryant Gumbel told him that the network never pays for interviews.

Shed has set up a Web site at www.nopraynoplay.org.

The Santa Fe High Indians and the Hitchcock High School Bulldogs are scheduled to play at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The Santa Fe prayer activities appear to be part of a national movement.

Last week, prayers were said in Mississippi and South Carolina prior to football games. And in North Carolina, a group rallied to urge the recitation of the Lord's Prayer at games.

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