‘If you want to pray with them, take them to church,’ board member tells Christian colleague
An exchange between school board officials in North Carolina has gone viral after one of the members was met with ridicule after requesting to start the meeting with prayer.
At an April 14 Cabarrus County School Board meeting, board member Melanie Freeman introduced a motion to “include an invocation” to the board’s meeting going forward.
Freeman’s motion was met with indignation from former TV reporter and board member Pam Escobar, who said she is a Christian but questioned the necessity of prayer in a professional setting. “If you put prayer at the beginning of this meeting, I don’t think that’s a welcoming sign to the people who are in this room tonight,” she said.
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“How much prayer do you need? How much God do you need?” Escobar continued. “We say ‘under God,’ why do we need to say more?”
Escobar added that board members are professionals dedicated to serving children, not engaging in religious activities. “If you want to pray with them, take them to church,” Escobar said. “ … You want to be Evangelical and do that? Go for it. But not on my time, not on their time, and not on this community’s time. We’re not in this business. This is not the time or the place.”
She then hinted that the board would face legal action if it moved forward with approving a regular invocation. “I don’t need to participate in that, and I don’t think you need to make the entire school board join you in your prayer. And if you do, then you have to be prepared for people to sue us because they have the right to religious freedom.”
She went on to question why Freeman or the board would “need” prayer to do their job more effectively. “That’s your argument? That we won’t be solemn enough, we won’t take this seriously? What have you been doing for the last six months? Why do you need this?” she asked.
Freeman responded that the invocation would be open to participants of all religions, pointing to the similar practice of opening meetings at all levels of government with an invocation.
“To answer the comment that we’re not in the business of praying […] so we need to get rid of it in our state houses, in our other municipalities, and in our Senate in the United States, who has it every day that they open for a session?” she asked Escobar. They have a chaplain who opens their meetings, and this has been, as a Christian nation, what we have done for 250 years. So, to be offended […] seems a little bit out there for me because the prayers of the people have always been for people, not against people.”
Escobar replied that the prayer would not be “unifying” for the board nor the community.
After hearing comments from the board, chair Rob Walter called for a vote, and the motion to open the board’s meetings with prayer passed 5-2, despite Escobar vocally dissenting by shouting “no” during the vote.
CP reached out to both Walter and Escobar for comment on Tuesday. This article will be updated if a response is received.
Located about 20 miles northeast of Charlotte, Cabarrus County oversees a district with roughly 33,000 students and has faced other recent controversies, including a $11 million budget deficit and criticism over board appointments.
