'Pray in Jesus' Name' chaplain and California pro-family leader to hold Monday news conference in Lodi

Contact: Agency Contact, 877-405-4005; Chaplain Klingenschmitt, 719-360-5132

LODI, Calif., July 31 /Christian Newswire/ -- Religious freedom leaders will speak out Monday in Lodi to explain why clergy praying in Jesus' name at city council meetings is good, proper, and completely constitutional.

The news conference will be Monday, August 3 at 2:00 p.m., outside Carnegie Forum, 305 W. Pine Street in Lodi, California.

At Monday's news conference, former Navy chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt of the nationwide Pray In Jesus Name Project will display more than 5,000 petitions urging the Lodi City Council to again permit public prayers in Jesus' name.

Also speaking will be Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, a statewide pro-family leadership organization, who will explain how both the United States Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court protect the religious freedom of clergy who are invited to pray at government meetings.

Monday's news conference precedes Wednesday's "Stand Up For Jesus" rally to be held at 6:00 p.m., prior to the Lodi City Council meeting. In May, after an atheist group complained, the Lodi council prohibited praying in Jesus' name for clergy giving invocations at council meetings. This summer, the city council is expected to establish a new policy that's either for or against allowing prayers in Jesus' name.

For more information and news coverage: http://prayinjesusname.org/blog_post/show/39.

SaveCalifornia.com is a leading West Coast nonprofit, nonpartisan organization representing children and families. We stand for marriage and family, parental rights, the sanctity of human life, religious freedom, financial freedom, and back-to-basics education.