The Return Volley: Those in the DeSoto community aren't as accepting as the school district. "I'm so sorry that Christians who stand up for the Lord are the ones who are singled out," said Pamela Selby, a DeSoto school official for 28 years, in a local ABC report. "Praying that children don't get hurt, can you imagine being against that?" Selby adds, "If you're not a believer, you simply tune it out." "Our rights are slowly getting ripped away by Congress, by our government and it's being done silently," said parent Mike Coker to WMCTV.

Over 2,000 people have liked the "DeSoto County 4 Prayer" Facebook, one of two Facebook pages to spring up since the ban. Leigh Harris, a mother of four, created the page. Harris is urging others to say the Christian "Lord's Prayer" after the Star Spangled Banner, reports the Commercial Appeal."The law's the law," said Harris to the Appeal yesterday. "A paid staff member cannot lead prayer, but it is legal to be student-or parent-led. That's what we're trying to get out to everybody. We can't let these people bully us around." "We believe it's our right to pray in public," said John Harris (no relation), a parent of four children in DeSoto County. "For a group to come from up north and dictate what my children do is offensive to me as a parent." But the argument isn't just about the Harrises' own children, in fact it's about the other students in the district, says Preston Rodgers, a member of Gaylor's organization. "It's a little hard to wonder why they need to have a PA system for God to hear them," said Rodgers to ABC. "Just because most of the people here are Christians, it doesn't mean it's o.k. to force Christianity down students' throats." The FFRF has filed a similar complaint in Bell County, Kentucky.

What They Say They're Fighting About: Praying at football games and its place in public schools. Gaylor is threatening DeSoto County with a lawsuit if it doesn't comply. Harris and her 2,000 backers don't believe the school should back down.

What They're Really Fighting About: Christian majority. What Harris and her team are fighting for isn't a freedom to practice religion, so much as it is a freedom to practice their own religion--Christianity. And Rodgers points out that "because most of the people here are Christians, it doesn't mean it's o.k. to force Christianity down students' throats."

Who's Winning Now: Gaylor, Rodgers, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation by a smidgen. The school district has sustained their complaint and the public prayers are now voluntary. Harris and her supporters, however, have the majority and it seems likely they have enough support to start legal, strong, parent or student-led public prayers. But both sides of these spats aren't without warts. The Freedom From Religion Foundation's seemingly identical complaint in Kentucky makes us wonder how invested the organization was in DeSoto County. And we wonder how Harris and her supporters would react if they were forced to participate in (or perhaps tune out) a religious prayer that wasn't their own?

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.