Highschool Tells Students They Are Not Aloud To Pray Because Of THIS High school student Chase Windebank stirred quite the controversy when the young Christian decided to use his free time to gather some of his Christian friends, and with the permission of the choir teacher, use his empty room for praying and Bible study. After just a few weeks, nearly 90 students from Pine Creek High School in Colorado Springs were attending the events. That was until Windebank was called into the assistant principals office. Apparently, the meetings he had been holding, called seminar time were being deemed illegal. Windebank was told that he could no longer pray with his fellow students during free time because of the separation of church and state, claims Jeremy Tedesco, a lawyer for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). He was told that he could pray before the school day begins or after the school day ends but he could not do it during the school day. Windebank worked with the ADF to write a letter to the schools administration, claiming that the new policy was both unconstitutional and invalid. Shockingly, the school pushed back on the letter, and their own return wrote that because of the separation of church and state and because they regarded the Seminar period as instructional time, they were banning students discussion of issues of the day from a religious perspective during the open time of Seminar period. Students were told that, according to state law and district policy, they could meet during non-instructional time before or after school, Nanette Anderson, a spokeswoman for the school confirmed. This time is counted as academic time toward the minimum hours of instruction that schools are required by state law, and therefore, must be used for academic purposes. Now the issue has escalated, and the ADF has officially filed a lawsuit seeking to end the discrimination. The claims are tied to the First Amendments freedom of speech, freedom of association, and free exercise of religion. It also alleges that the schools policy gives unlimited power of suppression and censorship of speech to school officials. Far from being unconstitutional, religious speech is expressly protected by the First Amendment, claims ADF attorney Matt Sharp. Public schools have no business stopping students from praying together during their free time. What do you think? Do you support the students voluntarily gathering during Seminar time? 