Prayer Petitions Delivered
from the William J. Murray Report

On Wednesday, June 28, 1995 more than 800,000 petitions supporting a religious freedoms Amendment to the Constitution were delivered to Speaker of the House New Gingrich. The petitions had been collected from every state in the United States over the previous several months. Participating in the presentation were several organizations associated with the William J. Murray Report.

The Committee to Restore School Prayer had collected tens of thousands of petitions as had the William J. Murray Report. Ken Musko had worked with a variety of Gospel bands to collect petitions. Also represented was the League of Prayer from Alabama, which had collected many petitions from the deep south. The presentation of the petitions by the various organizations was coordinated by the staff of the William J. Murray Report.

The presentation of the petitions took place on the lawn of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Dozens of reporters from all over the nation were present to watch the presentation of the petitions to Speaker Gingrich. Several large newspapers including the Los Angeles Times had reporters present.

Two tables were set up with six boxes of petitions on each table. Each of the boxes had a letter spelling out the words "school prayer." All of the petitions would not fit in the twelve boxes on the tables. As a result, a huge pile of petitions was also displayed on the ground. More than 50,000 of those petitions came from Speaker Gingrich's home state of Georgia.

Of the petitions, Speaker said they were "...just a taste" of the desire for the Amendment nationwide. "The freedom of religions was never designed to be translated into the government becoming an instrument of anti-religious enforcement, Gingrich said, referring to the many instances of infringements of the rights of Christian students today.

What we're trying to do is establish liberty of religion and establish once again the right to at least discuss our Creator and to recognize that there is a Creator, without which I don't understand how anyone can explain human rights in America, since they came directly from our Creator," Gingrich said.

During the presentation I personally acted as the master of ceremonies. During that time I presented to Speaker Gingrich a book containing all the best wishes of all the organization heads and clergy that participated in the event. The Speaker was truly touched by the sentiment of the occasion. Speaker Gingrich took the time to greet each of the twelve children who had held the boxes of petitions spelling out "school prayer." Each child represented a different grade from first through twelfth.

Congressman Ernest Istook of Oklahoma City also spoke at the ceremony on the Capitol grounds. Congressman Istook is leading the fight on Capitol Hill for the Religious Freedoms Amendment. Mr. Istook described many of the injustices going on in America today in the name of "separation of church and state." He concluded that a Religious Freedoms Amendment is required to stop the federal courts from further eroding the freedom of religion the Founding Fathers established for us. Congressman Istook hopes to have the Religious Freedoms Amendment for a vote sometime in September after hearings are concluded by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution.