Pensacola Beach Blog: Prinicipal Lay Has A 'Come to Jesus' Moment

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Prinicipal Lay Has A 'Come to Jesus' Moment

Some Pace High School students recited the lord's prayer at graduation last night. Apparently, the all-knowing god they pray to can't hear a silent prayer.

No matter. The students in Pace are just as entitled to protest government policy, even a policy embedded in the First Amendment and enforced by the courts, as John and Mary Beth Tinker in Des Moines were entitled to protest the War in Vietnam. That's the beauty of the First Amendment. We should all treasure it.

The real news is that principal Frank Lay has been cut loose by the Santa Rosa School Board when it comes to his scheduled June appearance to show why he shouldn't be held in contempt of court. According to the latest issue of the Santa Rosa Press Gazette:

Lay, who has come under fire for having the Ten Commandments displayed in the hall of Pace High as a historical document and offering a class on religion as an elective, has been advised by the school board that they will not represent him in any further litigation.

Maybe this explains principal Lay's transformation from lion to lamb in less than a week. Six days ago, he was loudly proclaiming "No way are we going to back down, back off, lay down or roll over" over the insistence that the public school continue to promote a version of Christianity that he and some of the students favor. Now, he's promising to 'work with the superintendent and the school board" and whining that he's just an "old dog" who can't learn "new tricks."

How quickly some folk abandon what they claim are their most deeply-held convictions the moment they realize they have to pay their own lawyer bills. That's what's known, in some circles, as a "come to Jesus" moment.